Does "No" Means "Sure!" to God?

"In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will..." Ephesians 1:11

Does "No" means "Sure!" to God?
By Rev. William Dohle

I have been a pastor long enough to understand and translate what people tell me into plain-talk.

For instance... Suppose I ask Fred to serve on church council.  He can respond in one of the following ways.  He can...
A.  Tell me to my face:"No, sorry, pastor.  I just don't have time."
B.  Nod his head.  Pretend like he's interested.  Avoid me after talking to me.
C.  Tell me he'll do it...and then change his mind.
D.  Think about it...and then tell me no...or yes.
E.  Immediately respond : "Sure, pastor!  Whatever you say!"

Which of these things do you suppose happens MOST of the time??  I'll tell you... I have rarely had people tell me "no" immediately.  So "A" is out.  Neither have I had many people tell me "yes" immediately.  Usually, depending on what I've asked them to do, it's either D or B.  Either they think about it...and tell me yes or no.  Or they pretend to be interested, but really don't want to do it, and, being afraid of what reaction I might have, they avoid me.

But whatever their answer is.  It IS the final answer.  I don't go back and ask them again.  I don't bug them at home.  I don't try to answer every single one of their problems.  When they say, "Find someone else."  I... find someone else!

So...when I read of God's response to Moses my mouth drops to the floor.

Moses is an example of the worst parishioner...ever!  Not only has he challenged God at every turn with one question after another, never giving God a break.  But then, when finally faced with the decision, Moses makes one final excuse ("I am slow of speech and tongue") before telling God flat out.  "Pardon your servant, Lord.  Please send someone else!"

Moses has officially told God... "No!  I don't want to do this!"

But does God accept Moses' no?  Does he turn away and find someone else?

No!  He doesn't!  If Moses had told me, Pastor Bill, this after church one Sunday, I'd have to drop the issue.  But God doesn't drop it!  He still keeps pushing!

"What about your brother, Aaron the Levite?  I know he can speak well.  He is already on his way to meet you and he will be glad to see you.  You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to say.  He will speak to the people for you and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him." (Ex. 4:14-16)

Once more...God makes a concession for Moses...and doesn't take NO for an answer!

So what does that say to us, today?   Well... it always amazes me how much emphasis we put on "free will" today.  Speak to many pastors and they will eventually get stuck on how God has given us free will and how we are free to choose...never once mentioning Moses who is given NO CHOICE in the matter!  Moses says no!  He says it!  But God doesn't turn away when Moses says no.  Instead, God makes even MORE concessions!  God never gives up!  He never backs down!  God has chosen Moses...and Moses has no say in the matter.

God isn't some wimpy God who backs away whenever we make excuses or say no.  God isn't a God who waits on our initiative or listens closely to our answer to decide what his next move will be.  God acts.  God acts with us in the mix.  He acts with us in the middle.  And, no matter what our response to him at the moment, God still presses on with what God is doing!

I have many friends who went into ministry late in life.  One woman I knew who was in her late 80's when she was ordained as an Episcopal priest.  I asked her one time what made her do this...now...this late in life.  She said: "God just didn't let up.  At every turn in my life, God kept telling me I needed to do this.  He never let go.  And so... here I am!"

My friends, you have no choice in the matter either.  God has chosen you.  Before the creation of the world, God has claimed you.  And you, like Moses, have been sent out into your world to proclaim liberty to the captive...and the year of the Lord's favor!

Why, God?  Why didn't you give up on Moses?  And why don't you ever give up on me?  Thank you for your persistent love through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Sign! Sign! I just want a Sign!"

"And it will be a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."  Exodus 13:16

"Sign!  Sign!  I just want a sign!"
By Rev. William Dohle

Getting directions is a tricky business and different depending on where you are going.

If you're going to go someplace in a city, the directions are usually designated by signs.

"Turn right on University Avenue.  Go down two whole lights to Willow Knolls.  Turn left there.  Go down three blocks..."

If you're in the city or from the city, you can usually find your way around pretty easily because city directions are designated by signs.

But try asking directions to a country place sometime...and you'll hear directions like this...

"Turn right at the first white fence on your left.  That's old Jedd's place.  Then keep going past his place to the old barn on the corner there.  It's green.... I think unless they've painted it.  Then turn right there and go down there until you hit the corner with the old oak tree.  Don't turn there.  Keep going..."

Directions there can be pretty confusing.  And for someone who gets lost A LOT like I do, it can be downright impossible.  Sometimes even GPS doesn't work because the road they're on is named after a family and isn't on any map!

It's times like these that you wish and dream for a good sign!

Moses too had this problem as he's conversing with God.  In probably the longest conversation anyone in the Bible has with God, Moses asks God at one point for a sign.

"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?"(Exodus 4:1)

God understands what Moses is needing.  He's needing a sign.  He's needing something clear that will point the people of Israel to God.  So God gives his "signs."

"Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied.
The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake and he ran from it.  Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail."  So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.  "This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob--has appeared to you."(Exodus 4:2-5)

The first sign God gives Moses, he ironically runs away from.  (Didn't know Moses was afraid of snakes, did you?)  Then God gives him another sign.  Moses' hand becomes leprous when it is put inside his cloak and clean when it is placed inside again.  Then the Lord says, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.  But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground.  The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."(Ex. 4:8-9)

Three signs!  Three ways that Moses can tell Israel where God is and how God is working in the world.  Three things that will point to God's presence here!

Sounds cool, huh?  Sounds amazingly awesome?  No one get lost with these signs, right?

Yeah...but how well do these signs really point to God?  How well do these directions work?  Are these signs like street signs?  Are they lit up at night?  Or are they more like the signs an old country man might give some pastor as he's coming out to his house?

God doesn't give Moses good enough directions.  That's why Moses goes searching for another excuse not to go.  God isn't as straight forward about who he is and why they should believe as Moses would like for sure!

And he's definitely not as straight forward to us!

You see, we like Moses want a sign.  We want something concrete that we can point to and say that "God was here!" or "God is there!"  We want good directions to find God in our lives...and we really want signs.

But God doesn't work that way.  Not anymore it seems.  And where the people of Israel had concrete signs of God's presence, we're left wondering "Is God here!?"  and "Is God listening?"

But there is a sign that we've been given.  A concrete reminder of God's love for us.  That sign is the cross.  Paul tells us, "Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, but Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."(1 Cor. 1:22-24)

Christ crucified is our sign.  He is the signpost pointing the way to God.  He is the neon sign in the night, calling us like moths to the light of God.  He is the way we get to the Father.  He is the road we take, the path we walk.  He is the gate when we get there.  And he is the shepherd who welcomes us home.

Christ Jesus is our sign.  He's how we get to God.

So, if you're wondering the countryside, searching for God's presence in your life, why not stop in sometime at your local church.  Ask them if you can sit in their sanctuary a while.  And then stare up at the sign of God's love for you...and for the world.  That's the sign that shows us just how much he loves us!

God, I ache sometimes for a sign to point me back to you.  Open my eyes that I may see Christ crucified for me.  Help me follow his grace, in Jesus name.  Amen.

The "Name Thing" Again!

"This is my name forever..." Exodus 3:15

The "Name Thing" Again!
By Rev. William Dohle

Alright, truth be told now.  I am terrible with names.  Absolutely horrible!  I can't remember names of people I've known for years...and remembering names of people I've just met can be extremely difficult.  I use to imagine a time when I could call people by name at communion...but no more.  After the many times I've called people by the WRONG name at the table of the Lord, I put that practice on permanent hiatus.

I have learned a trick, however, to remember names past the initial meeting time.  I repeat them...over and over again if I need to.  I say their name in my head again and again until, finally, I'm able to look at the person and call them by name.  It works...most of the time...unless I start repeating the WRONG name in my head, which I've done on multiple occasions.

What's so special about our names?  Why do they mean so much to us?

Names evoke something mystical and mysterious in each of us.  It's our favorite word.  The word that makes our heads turn.  Names mean something.  They touch us deep within.  They have power, like no other word can, over us.  Hold someone's true name, and you hold their identity and you hold a piece of who they are.

In ancient times, knowing someone's name gave you power over them.  Curses and blessings were given to people using their names.  Names matter.

So when Moses asks God for his name...we should get worried.  When Moses says to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

We shouldn't expect God to answer!  After all, when Jacob asked this very question in Genesis, God responded: "Why do you want to know my name?"

God has never revealed his name to anyone...until now.

^"God said to Moses, “I am who I am.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you."... "Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation."

Now you'd think that God giving Moses his name in such a way meant that Moses should USE God's name...that God's name was available to be remembered and that God should be called by God's name...right??

Wrong!

Instead, the ancient Israelites(and even today) refuse to use God's name Yahweh(Hebrew for I AM WHO I AM."  Instead, they said "Lord" in place of God's name...thus we get the capital LORD in our Bibles today.

So...why did God give His name to Moses in the first place?  Why give him that power over him if he wasn't suppose to use it, evoke it?  Why give God's name out freely like that?

Maybe because, as mysterious as God is, God wants to be known.  God wants God's name to be on our lips, in our thoughts.  God wants God's name to be present with us.  God wants to be remembered!

God's name has power.  No doubt about that.  So does, for Christians, the name of Jesus.  For, as Paul says, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."(Philippians 2:9-11)

That's Jesus name.  That's powerful!  But it's not a name that should be whispered or never spoken.  It's not a name that needs to be revered so much that people forget about it...or avoid it.  It's a name to be on our lips.  A name to be remembered above all other names.  When all other names are forgotten, may the name of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, remain on your lips and in your heart and in your mind, now and forever.

God you have called us by name and we are yours.  Give us confidence that we might approach you, calling you by your name, confident in your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Here He Goes Again

"Go assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, "The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--has appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.  And I have promised to bring you out of your misery...'"  Exodus 3:16-17

There He Goes Again!
By Rev. William Dohle

I am a big movie buff.  Always have been...always will be.

In addition to keeping a movie blog(found at http://seenthatmovie.wordpress.com)... I watch movies, collect movies, and go to a lot of movies.  I really enjoy the theater.

One of my favorite things to do at the movies is to watch how the actors and actresses pry their trade.  Some are so predictable in their performance.  From one movie to another, you pretty much know how they're going to act.  Some are more surprising.  Each role is unique to them.  Some actors take on roles that are completely out of character for them...while others pretty much stay in character.

Take Tom Cruise for example.  Tom Cruise plays roles that are...well...Tom Cruiseish.  He never plays something that he couldn't be recognized in.  Watch all his movies, starting with Mission Impossibles, continue with some of his sci-fi ones like Minority Report and then round it all out with the classic, Top Gun.  Tom Cruise is the same type of character in every single one of his movies.  He doesn't change.

Whereas actors like Johnny Depp play characters very different from one another.  True, once you watch more than one of his movies in a row you can pick out his acting ability, but each of his characters are very different from one another.  Very unique.

So...if God was an actor on stage, would he be more like Tom Cruise(the same at every performance) or would he be more like Johnny Depp(different characters every time).  Is God predictable, his character the same?  Or does God switch it up a bit?  Which of these two actors are more like the God we find in Scripture?

We might think that since God is so creative, that he would play more creative roles.  But ironically the God we read about in Scripture is anything but creative in his persona.  God's character is more like Tom Cruise than Johnny Depp.

How so?  Well... God is the same at every turn.  He's always loving.  Always compassionate and merciful.  God is a God of steadfast love and faithfulness, of mercy and grace.  And that doesn't ever seem to change!  Ever!

God reveals himself as a God of compassion way back in Abraham's time.  That compassion continues through Isaac and Jacob and all their family.  Every time they meet God, God seems to have compassion, mercy, grace, and love up his sleeve.  Every time!  And then, God's compassion takes action.  The people of Israel are in trouble and, in his infinite compassion, God reveals himself to Moses and sends Moses to act on God's behalf.

God explains to Moses who God is.  "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.  I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land."(Ex. 3:7-8)

God sends Moses to rescue Israel because God is a God of compassion and mercy.

And that doesn't change after the exodus either.  God is always the God of compassion and mercy.  From Moses to the prophets and kings, to Jesus Christ himself.  God is the same character throughout Scripture.

When God sends His Son, Jesus, into the world, he does because he is a God of compassion and mercy.  He sends Jesus to rescue us, this time from sin and death.  God doesn't change from the exodus story.  He doesn't suddenly become a different character.  He's the same God to Moses as he is in Jesus Christ.

And, guess what, God still hasn't changed!  Despite all the pain in the world.  Despite all the violence and the heartache and the hurt.  Despite sin and all its darkness, God is still a God of compassion and mercy.  He is the same character!  He's the same God!

So, if you start thinking that suddenly God's going to change his mind about this world.  Suddenly God's going to change from being a God who cares about people and is compassionate and merciful to a God who judges with a vengeance and condemns people, then think again!  God doesn't change.  He doesn't change his mind about this world.  God loves the world so much He gave Jesus!  And God's mercy and grace and compassionate love extends to all...no matter what!

God give me grace that I may see the world as you do, with compassion, mercy, and grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.