Peer Influence

Practice God’s law—get a reputation for wisdom; hang out with a loose crowd—embarrass your family. Proverbs 28:7

Peer Influence
By Rev. William Dohle

I had a friend in elementary school who I had much in common with.
We had the same likes, went to the same church, played the same games.
He would come and hang out at my house. I would hang out at his.
We had sleepovers together and rode our bikes together.
Even after we got into a fight, we remained friends.
And best of all, I thought, we were going to the same high school.

But there's where we parted.

Once we were in high school my friend started hanging out with one crowd of kids. I another.
I found the Mormon kids to be my best friends. The band my second family.
He hung out with a different crowd.
I took one set of classes. He took another.
By the end of high school, we still said hello to each other...but very little beyond that.
He went one way. I went another.

Why did my friendship with him break away?

For no other reason than because of peers.

He hung out with one group of kids. I hung out with another.

You see... our peers influence us!

Sometimes for good. Our peers can lift us up. They can make us be better people that we would be without them. They can become our lifelong friends. My friends certainly did that. I didn't get into drinking or drugs because none of them were into that. The featured drink at our parties?? Shasta! (No joke).

Sometimes our friends lift us up... But sometimes they work against us too.
Sometimes they influence us to do the wrong thing and become the type of person we shouldn't be.
Sometimes they give us bad advice and sway us away from what we should be doing.

That's what happened to the people of Israel at least just outside the Promised Land.

It says in the book of Numbers...

"While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab.   These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.  Thus Israel yoked itself to the Baal of Peor, and the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel." (Numbers 25:1-3)

The people of Israel on their way through Moab, start cavorting with the Moabite women. They in turn invite Israel to meet their gods and the Israelites accept the invitation. Only, instead of witnessing to their own God, they bowed down to the Moabite gods.

What is the Bible saying here? What it says throughout its pages...
Be careful you you're yoked to!

This applies to the people we hang out with, the ones who "invite us" places.
But it also applies to the ones we marry. The ones we are physically yoked with.

Be careful you don't get influenced by them.

Now before we think we should lock ourselves away and only talk to, hang out with, and associate only with Christians and people just like us, let's be clear here. This story illustrates the reality that come with associating with others. You will be changed. Open yourself up to others and they will change your life.

Sometimes that change is bad. But sometimes its good. Opening yourself up to your neighbor you might discover a whole new world waiting you on the other side. You might discover that your neighbor is human and just like you. Or you might discover the differences you have. You might find ways that they can help you, but more importantly, you might find ways you can love them.

The ancient Moabites were seen as Israel's enemy here...but later God turns the world around when a Moabite woman, Ruth, becomes the grandmother of King David himself(and the great-great-great grandmother of Jesus too!)

So know yourself. Know who you are and who you worship. Be confident in your own identity. Then you can accept the invitation of the Moabites around you, loving them as Jesus would, without bowing down to their gods and idols.

God, you call us into a world filled with people different from us. Assure us of your grace. Ground us in our faith that we might love them without falling away from you. Amen.

Speaking Thru Anything

But Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to oppose me." Numbers 22:34

God: Speakin' Through Anything!
By Rev. William Dohle

Have you ever been driving in your car when a song comes on the radio that speaks directly to the situation you were thinking about?

Or you pass by a sign that seems to shout out your name?

Or a person calls who you really needed to speak to?

I have! More times than I can count!

I can't tell you how often I've been thinking or praying or talking outloud to God or myself when I hear something on the radio. I turn it up and the song's lyrics hit me in the gut. I try to get myself home, teary eyed, cause I know that God spoke to me then. Not by some almighty word from on high, but through the lyrics of a simple song.

That's how God works. And that's how God speaks. God can speak literally through anyone and anything. And he does it all the time.

One of the most humorous examples of this is found in the book of Numbers. The story is named by the event. We call it "Balaam's Donkey" and it marks the time when God spoke out of the mouth of a donkey.

Balaam, the prophet, was on his way to do Balak, King of Midian's bidding. He was going to curse the people of Israel for him. Despite being told that God can't curse a people he blesses, Balak still insists on sending Balaam to try anyway.

Balaam obeys his king and goes to curse them. Only God sends an angel to stand in his way.

Balaam is so distracted, though, he can't see what is right in front of his eyes. His donkey sees the angel, however.

"When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with the staff."

The donkey was trying to alert Balaam that God was standing in his way. But Balaam doesn't see it and blames the donkey instead. So God does what God does. He opens the mouth of the donkey.

"Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have made a fool of me! I wish i had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!" But the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?" And he said, "No."(22:28-30)

Notice that Balaam didn't recognize God's voice even when the donkey started speaking to him! It's only when God opens the eyes of Balaam and he sees the angel standing there that he recognizes that it was God. Then the angel says: "The donkey saw me, and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let it live."(22:33)

How often have we failed to recognize God's voice in the people around us? Probably more than we even know about. How often have we been so busy with our own lives that we fail to stop and appreciate the lives God has surrounded us with? How often have those people saved our skins? How often have they been truly sent from God?

We pray for open ears, open eyes, and open hearts for this reason. God is good and God surrounds us with good reminders of God's love. But we so easily get distracted. So we pray for openness. Open eyes to see the messengers of God for who they are. Open ears that we may hear the message they have to share with us. And open hearts that we might take what God is telling and showing us through them and learn from it.

Gracious God, open us up to your Word spoken all around us that we might see, hear, and experience the love you have prepared for us today. Amen.

Be Careful Who You Curse

Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.”  Numbers 23:11

Be Careful Who You Curse
By Rev. William Dohle

If you can't tell...2016 is an election year! How do I know?? Well...

On every station, especially at night, we have been subject to political ads. Each ad does the exact same things. Each ad curses their rival and blesses their campaign. Without fail!

I have yet to see an ad this year that doesn't somehow compare their candidate's position with their rival candidate's, blessing theirs with wisdom, understanding, and patriotism, and cursing their rivals for their lack of the same.

And its only going to get worse.

I usually moan and groan my way through an election year and, by the end, am incredibly grateful once Thanksgiving comes around and there are Christmas commercials on television again!

But this tendency to curse your opponent and bless yourself disturbs me. For a number of reasons. One of which is found in the story of King Balak and Balaam.

You see, in typical political fashion, King Balak has watched the children of Israel come closer and closer to his own camp. He's afraid. He knows that something is different with this people. Something he can't put his finger on. He knows he's going to need help defeating them too.

And so he summons Balaam, who is the resident prophet of his area. Balaam had an interesting adventure getting to Balak, one we will speak on at a later date, but regardless of that, Balak finally arrives and tells Balak.

“Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”  Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.  Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height.(Num. 23:1-2)

But when God speaks to Balaam, these are the words he is given.

How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
    How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced? (Num. 23:8)

Balaam tries again. His second oracle, Balaam says:

See, I received a command to bless;
    he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. (Num. 23:20)

Balaam tries a third time. The same result. You cannot curse the one who God has blessed!

This rings especially true, I think, in today's toxic political climate. On more than one Facebook group, I've read pleas for no more political posts. "Let's just talk about church" as if "church" can be spoken without talking politics. Maybe in a world where we don't care what happens this side of heaven, but in a world where we do, politics will always be spoken.

Between the lines, though, I read this: "Just stop the cursing! Stop the backbiting!"

And here I would agree. Cursing another candidate does nobody any good. And if you want biblical basis for this, just look at Balak. Balak tries to curse the Israelites and it fails...why? Because God has blessed them and said that anyone who blesses them will be blessed. Anyone who curses them would be cursed.

We'd be better off talking issues and policies than people. Here there's no blessing or cursing involved. Instead, we can talk about what this kingdom of God looks like here on earth. What does it mean to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? What does it mean to treat everyone, regardless of what they believe, with respect and dignity? What does it mean to be people of faith in our world today?

These are questions we can wrestle with and argue about that don't involve blessings and curses.

We can stand up for the needy without standing against any person. We can picket and protest the policies and opinions of others without cursing them from afar. We can do it.

And as far as the rest goes, maybe we should just say what they say in basketball games: "May the best team win." For in the end, as Balak discovered:

God is not a human being, that he should lie,
    or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
Has he promised, and will he not do it?
    Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num. 23:19)

May God watch over our world and help us come to the place where the world is repaired, creation restored, and where even our curses are turned into blessings.

Almighty God, you listen to our prayers, even our prayers filled with curses, and turn them into blessings. Align our hearts with yours. Amen.

Can't Manipulate God!

“Although Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God, to do less or more."
Numbers 21:18

You Can't Manipulate God!
By Rev. William Dohle

Isn't it frustrating when you don't get what you want?

Frustrating doesn't describe what my 3 year old feels whenever we say "no" to him. He really doesn't like it. Tell him he can't have more cereal(after his 5th bowl) or tell him he can't take the toy in the van or tell him anything that involves NOT being able to do something he wants to do, and my boy isn't a happy camper. In fact he's got a baby temper like you wouldn't believe.

He doesn't like hearing "no!"

And honestly I can't say I blame him. I like getting what I want too. It's probably pretty human of us. When we get what we want, what we think we deserve, we rejoice. When we get more than we deserve, we're even happier. But when we get something we don't want, than we, like my son, are pretty unhappy campers.

In life...and in prayer!

No one shows this best than King Balak. The story of Balak and Balaam takes up two whole chapters in the book of Numbers. It's huge. And its like no other story told so far in scripture. The Israelites aren't the central characters in the story. It's this crazy king and his dumb prophet. And its the story of what happens when God desires something we don't really want.

In this case, Balak desires the people of Israel to be cursed. Balak wants Balaam, the prophet of God in their area, to call down curses upon Israel and stop them from entering and conquering the Promised Land.

Just one little problem with that. God doesn't want to do it. Not only is God unwilling to call down curses upon them, God is bent on blessing them instead. Israel carries with it Abraham's promise. "I will bless those who bless you and whomever curses you I will curse and all nations of the earth will be blessed because of you."

God won't be manipulated. God wishes to bless Israel, not curse them. So God says: "No!"

Of course Balak doesn't like that answer and so he gets Balaam to try again and again and again. Three times Balaam tries to curse Israel and each time the blessings get larger and larger for them. Finally, Balak says to stop talking! Stop blessing my enemies!

We, like King Balak, would like to think we can manipulate God. We'd like to think that the American myth, that those who work hardest will prosper and excel, stands. We'd like think that God will reward those who work the hardest and punish the lazy, but that's not the case. God doesn't do what we want him to do. God can't be manipulated!

No matter how many authors claim he can. No matter how many secrets they share of how God will reward you if you just pray this prayer, think this thought, do this thing, contribute to this fund, God will not be manipulated! He wasn't manipulated by King Balak! God's blessings spoken to Abraham stood about this people moving into the Promised Land stood, no matter how many sacrifices Balaam made to counter them.

Maybe we should stop a moment and listen to our own prayers. Are we trying to manipulate God? Are we assuming we know God's mind and who God blesses? Are we calling down curses ourselves on people we think are lazy or good for nothing? Are we trying to be good to win God's approval?

If we are... stop! There's no use in it! Let us stop trying to manipulate God and instead just bask in the glory of his love and in the beauty of his presence.

Holy God, we are guilty, every one of us, of thinking we can buy you out or win your approval over and against someone else. We fail to see that you are above us and beyond us and yet love us all the same. Amen.

God Takes Sides

God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” Numbers 22:12

God Takes Sides
By Rev. William Dohle

It was just a few weeks ago when prayers rose up to God on both sides of an epic battle. Two teams, the Panthers and the Broncos, fought it out over who could call themselves this year's Super Bowl Champions.

Up in heaven, the prayers rose from both sides. God probably sat back and listened as both teams met in their locker rooms and prayed that they might be the winner. Coupled with the multitude of prayers raising up to heaven from both groups of fans too, God had a difficult decision to make. Obviously, God favored the Broncos over the Panthers that day, because the Broncos won that game. Maybe next time God will switch sides...but for now we know that God was with the Broncos.

We laugh at the thought that God would take sides in a football game like that, but still we pray. We roll our eyes, imagining God would truly care which side won over the other, but still we pray. We might pray for a good game...but still we pray our team will win.

But seriously, deep down inside, do we truly believe God takes sides?

Surprising as this might seem, God does take sides in scripture. God sides with the little, the least, the lost, and the dead. In the Torah, they're called "The People of Israel."

This side-taking is shown best in the story of Balak and Balaam. Balak was king of Moab and when he saw what the rag-tag group of Israelites were doing in Canaan already, he got nervous. So he sent his servants to summon the prophet, Balaam. This is what Balak says to Balaam.

A people has come out of Egypt; they have spread over the face of the earth, and they have settled next to me.  Come now, curse this people for me, since they are stronger than I; perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land; for I know that whomever you bless is blessed, and whomever you curse is cursed.(Numbers 22:5-6)

Makes sense, right? When faced with an opposing team, our first reaction is to curse them. To pray that God would decrease their strengths and increase their weaknesses. "Help us defeat these enemies," we pray.

Soldiers pray this all the time. "Help us defeat the terrorists." Some Christians go so far as to pray for the bombs to do it. Praying for God to be on your side, to help you defeat "the other" isn't unheard of.

But there's one problem with Balaam's prayer. What side God is on? You see, God has already taken sides and God won't be persuaded to change his mind. In fact, God has promised that these people will be blessed period. And that those who bless them will be blessed in return. He's also promised that those who curse them will be cursed as well...so Balak better watch out.

Still Balak, like the rest of us, doesn't take "no" very well...but that's another story. For now we can see something that we didn't really realize:

God takes sides!

We'd like to think that God is beyond all of that, that God stands somehow outside the game of life looking in, but here we see God actively taking the side of his people. God stands up for God's people.

Throughout scripture we see the same is true. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Paul writes. Only, strangely for us richer Americans, the people that God sides with aren't who we'd expect. We'd like to think that God sides with the rich and powerful. Those who have wealth in our world are somehow blessed by God, but God doesn't see it that way. Instead, God consistently sides with the poor and the widow, the orphan and the stranger. God sides with the outcast.

And God shows his bias throughout scripture. When his people are among the least of these, God stands with them. When his people stand against the least of these, God stands against them.

"The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow..." God takes care of those who can't take care of themselves and calls us to join him in doing the same.

Christians would say, God shows this bias in sending Jesus, a man who is a friend of sinners and tax collectors, who is called a drunkard and a glutton by some, but who consistently is standing with the least of these. What we do for the least, we do for him, Jesus declares. God stands even with the unrighteous lost to say: "I'm here for you."

So the next time you stand against the poor, think about this. The next time you look with distain on those less fortunate than yourself, calling them lazy, good for nothing, or worse. The next time you judge the least of these, remember this: God stands on their side. Do you really want to stand against God?

God of the poor, call us to show compassion to those less fortunate than ourselves. Call us to action on behalf of the needy, not because they deserve it, but because you command it. Amen.

Does that question matter?

"...and we laid waste until fire spread to Medeba." Numbers 21:30b

Does that question matter?
By Rev. William Dohle

It's funny how questions seem to stick in our collective head. Like a tune that just won't turn off or a song we just can't seem to get over, some questions leave us pondering months after they're asked and answered.

Take this one... fresh in the media. "Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?"

Everyone from Franklyn Graham to Bishop Eaton has chimed in on this question. Asked right at a time when Muslims are being cast as terrorists in the media and Western Christians are feeling persecuted, this question has become something of a rallying cry, to isolate the Muslim from the Christian and ratify our own feelings of fear.

But is this question really important? Is it absolutely necessary to argue one side of this question or the other? I personally believe that Christians and Muslims DO worship the same God, the God of Abraham. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all have differing interpretations of who this God is and what this God has done, but we all trace our faith back to that one desert wanderer and his relationship with God. We all see ourselves as his children, in some respect.

But what about the people who answer this question differently? Who say, because Christians believe in a Triune God revealed in Jesus Christ, Christians and Muslims don't believe in the same God? What do we say to them?

Is this question worth arguing about?

Well... it is if we view the outsider and the stranger as someone to be conquered and controlled. The people of Israel, as they near the Promised Land, begin a campaign of wiping out the native populations to clear the way for their entrance into God's Promised Land. The first group to be wiped out is King Sihon of the Amorites and his people. The book of Numbers tells us:

Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites; for the boundary of the Ammonites was strong...Thus Israel settled in the land of the Amorites.(Num. 21:24)

But the slaughter doesn't stop there. In the next few verses, God gets involved in the slaughter too.

But the Lord said to Moses, "Do not be afraid of him for I have given him into your hand, with all his people, and all his land. You shall do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon." So they killed him, his sons, and all his people, until there was no survivor left; and they took possession of his land. (Num. 21:34-35)

Two kings and all their people are the first to be killed to make way for the people of God. Why? Because they were different. The Amorites in Heshbon worshiped different gods, obeyed different laws, and, most of all, they were in Israel's way. Israel had been promised that land. They had not. So they must be destroyed.

If the question whether someone worships a different god than you do is going to lead to their destruction at your hands...then this question is vitally important to decide who warrants your compassion and who doesn't. This question, and your answer to it, will determine whether you will show them compassion and mercy, or wrath and anger.

But if we see everyone, regardless of the ones they worship, as being intrinsically important and valuable, having worth in and of themselves, then this question doesn't matter at all. Everyone deserves our compassion, regardless of their religion. Everyone should be loved and respected and cared for, no matter whether they are worshiping our God or not. The Hindu and the Buddhist doesn't worship the same God as I do...but they deserve my respect and my love for them as my neighbor. The atheist and the Sikh, the agnostic and the Ba'hai and everyone in between. They all deserve my love and my compassion. Not because we believe in the same God. But because, as a Christian, Jesus commanded it.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”(John 13:34-35)

No matter what you think of this question. No matter whether you believe all the Abrahamic faiths worship the same God or whether you distinguish the Christian God from the others, we must understand that this question ultimately has no meaning. We have been commanded to love others. Period. To give our lives for them. Period. There's no way out of this commandment!

God, give me eyes to see the common humanity I share with everyone around me. Help me not to judge them based on their religiosity, but instead welcome and embrace them in Christ. Amen.

Does this place look familiar?

Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town. Psalm 107:4

Does this place look familiar?
By Rev. William Dohle

Confession time. I get lost very very easily. Ask anyone who's ever traveled with me and they'll tell you on average I turn around two or three times everywhere I go.

When I lived in Southern California it was bad. Armed with a street map guide I would frequently be pulled over on the side of the road, searching for where I was.

In Colorado and Montana, I would often pass by the tiny streets that led to people's homes. Once I drove my wife and I on the wrong side of the mountain to get to the house we were heading to. Scary part is... I'd been there before.

And alas, two years ago on a trip with our youth to St. Louis I led two of our chaperones all over the city, trying to find this or that. Crazy part is... I warned them!

I know what getting lost looks like and sounds like. I've been there and done that, as they say.

So when I'm reading this section of verses at the end of chapter 21 in Numbers I'm thinking: The people of Israel are lost! Utterly and hopelessly lost!

Listen to how they travel...

The Israelites set out, and camped in Oboth. They set out from Oboth, and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering Moab toward the sunrise. From there they set out, and camped in the Wadi Zered.  From there they set out, and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. (Numbers 21:10-13)

That's just the start of their trip. Notice how many times they "camp" and then "set out." And if you're still not convinced they're lost listen to verse 16... "From there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, 'Gather the people together, and I will give them water.'"(Num. 21:16)

See what happened here? The people went in a circle! They'd already been to this well before. it was the well of which the Lord said, "Gather the people and I will give them water." They've traveled in a circle! They're lost!

So why do the people then sing to the well. Why do the people rejoice??

"Spring up, O well! -- Sing to it!--
the well that the leaders sank,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter; with the staff."(Num. 21:17-18)

Maybe we can understand this song by understanding this little thing. The people of Israel are NOT lost! They've been wandering the wilderness true, but they've not been wandering without direction. God has been with them the entire time. And this well is a reminder of what God did for them through their ancestors. This well, come around again, reminds them that God provided them water in the past and will continue to provide water in the future. It reminds them of God's presence.

There's a really cool saying, I can't tell you where it's from, but it says something like this:

Not all who wander are lost.

It's a wonderful statement for how the people of Israel travel too. For their goal is the Promised Land, but they don't go straight there. Instead they wander around the wilderness, going here and there. They stop at a well God gave to Moses and there they rejoice over what God did for their ancestors and how God continues to watch over them.

Maybe we should take a cue from them. A little less rushing about. A little more wandering. Then we may find ourselves back at that Well which our ancestors drank and which continues to provide us with Living Water.

Holy God, stay near us when we wander away. Circle our roads that, no matter where we go, we return to your grace. Amen.