Mission in Action

Sophie and Jill had a rap song ready for me when I got home. ? Sophie was so excited that she and Mum had spent some time writing a song that was about me. ? I was kind of excited too, though the grin turned to something of a grimace as the song progressed.

It is called “Dad’s Mantra” and it went something like this (Jill sings the line – Sophie the refrain)

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Verse One

Get out of Bed – NOW

Eat your breakfast – NOW

Put on your uniform – NOW

Brush your teeth – NOW

Get in the car – NOW

Chorus:

Do it

Do it

Do it?

NOW?

(Repeat)

(You getting the picture?)

Anyway it goes on for a few verses ad nauseum and ends with some lines about brushing teeth (again), getting into bed, going to sleep – all punctuated with a staccato “NOW”. ? It got me thinking. ? Just because I wash dishes as we eat, just because I walk around the house with the dustbuster’s safety catch off, just because I mow the lawn within an inch of its life, just because friends get embarrassed when I come around and run around excusing their messy houses, just because I rake (yes rake) the gravel on the driveway, that’s no reason to think I’ve got a problem. Is it? Seriously though, is it?

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Thought that might get your attention. ? It is remarkable how contemporary Deuteronomy 1 sounds when the children of Israel are grumbling about God’s call for them to go up and take the land. ? Verses 26-27 says

But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. ? You grumbled in your tents and said “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.

You can almost imagine the Israelites slumping in their easy-chair in their tents in front of the telly, watching the news about the Amorites and whining “That’s it – God hates us”. I don’t know about you but the temptation when things seem to be going awry is to doubt God’s goodness and love for me. ? It’s interesting that right at the outset of Deuteronomy as the people are about to enter the Land that Moses reminds them of how their lack of faith in God caused them their problems last time and that if anything derails them next time it will be the same thing that derailed them last time. ? Maybe just a reminder to keep our hearts from grumbling when things aren’t going our way.

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