Neither add nor take away...

Deuteronomy 4:1-9 
So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.  2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you.  
3 You have seen for yourselves what the LORD did with regard to the Baal of Peor-- how the LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,  4 while those of you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.  5 See, just as the LORD my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.  
6 You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!"  7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?  8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?  9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children.

Reflection
It is interesting (maybe upsetting) that the Revised Common Lectionary leaves out verses 3-5 when verse 2 told the Israelites to NOT take anything away from the commandments which the LORD was about to give through Moses (just, FYI, Moses is speaking these words  to the Israelites). It seems that the verses following 2 just might pertain to those commandments and just might be worth reading.  So, I copied 3-5 in italics, above.  And, they are worth reading. Verse 5 tells us basic information: that the "statutes and ordinances," those are the laws Moses will be talking about, come from God, not Moses himself.  It also says that these are for the Israelites to practice in the land that they will be going into and living.

Maybe more disconcerting and compelling are verses 3-4: 3 You have seen for yourselves what the LORD did with regard to the Baal of Peor-- how the LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,  4 while those of you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today. The lectionary took out the scary part, the part where God destroyed those who followed Baal.  For a reference, some Israelites back in the day decided to "have relations" with Moabites. These relations led to Israelites making offerings and worshipping, Baal.  This was a CLEAR violation of the first commandment, which is that God's people "should have no other gods."

There is some hope in this dark, depressing section, too: 4 while those of you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today. There is something to be said of holding to the LORD, of trusting that the LORD God will bring the people (I venture to guess that all people are God's people) to the promised land.   We, God's people, are told to neither add nor take away from that command to love and trust in God alone.  The Israelites who worshiped Baal changed that command by putting their faith into another god.  But, those who held fast, who trusted, were alive to hear this message Moses spoke.  That message told the Israelites to take care of themselves by upholding the commandments which the LORD had given through Moses.  In addition, the Israelites are told to remember what they have seen.  This message isn't just about holding onto the promise of God's Word, but about remembering the experiences of faith.

What does this mean for us today?  What about those of us who have spent years trying to figure out exactly what "land" God is leading us to?  What about those of us who have observed heartache and felt left out of God's promise?  What about those of us who cannot help but wonder if we ought to give into the temptation of following another god--maybe not the god Baal, but maybe a god that leads us away from doing what is right, something like a job that compromises our own ethics or a job that might hurt other people? What about us, who have kept as many commandments as we think we can but still have not been taken to our place in this land?

All I can say to those questions is that we are still here.  In some way, we have held fast.  Maybe others have held fast for us...actually, I'd say that the grace of God given in Christ Jesus has held us fast.  I'd say that maybe there are other people, too, who helped keep us alive today by witnessing to that grace.  Like the Israelites were commanded to make their story known to their children and children's children, people are here to make the story of God's love known to us. Things can be really crappy.  We might be underpaid, unemployed, existing on ramen noodles and the generosity of friends/family, but we ARE here.  We do have memories of faith--our own memories and those of generations past.  When we are beyond desperation, when we are beyond hope of holding fast, we hear that constant message: "I am the Lord your God...you shall have no other gods."  This means, as Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism, "We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else." Above all else--above all those fake job postings on Craig's List, above all those fruitless interviews, above all those things in the world of job-searching which get you down--above all that, trust that, "I am the Lord your God."

I can't say that you will find a job today or tomorrow. or that I will be extended a call next week or month or year.  I can say that this text about Moses telling the Israelites to follow the commandments isn't just about law, it's about preserving that story that God chooses us and loves us.

Clearly, though we each likely falter and put faith and trust in things other than the LORD our God, our fate isn't that of the Israelites-turned-Baal-worshipers. We are still here. We remember our joys and sorrows regarding faith and the LORD our God.  And, we remember that there is a long line of God's people who have passed down this story of God's love and they've done that for us.  For those people who feed me with food and with that "great wisdom" of which Moses spoke, even in midst of those crappy things that get me down, I can't help but be thankful.

My Prayer Today
Lord, God of Moses and the Israelites, help me to hold fast to the story of your love.  Give me the heart and mind to witness to that love in all I do.  Guide me in this search for a job, for a vocation.  Lead me to work in your name, for the sake of all your people. Thank you, today, for the memories of all those who have shared your love in the world. Amen.