It begins with God calling Moses to the mountain. What an incredible invitation to meet God – a private encounter!* I mean, he[Moses] was only being challenged to bring back commandments that will shape a band of runaway slaves into a community, and a nation. Lucky Moses! He waits, and he waits. In the meantime, Moses is neither with the people of Israel in the camp, where all they are doing is complaining about his leadership, nor with God . Have you ever been there? He is in-the-space-between the present and God’s new thing.
It is the waiting game. I am not good at waiting. It is one reason why I don’t hit those crazy day-after Thanksgiving sales.
It seems the more wonderful and new the thing coming, the harder the wait is. But when the moment finally comes, it can feel too soon. I remember when our first child was finally born, after what seemed more like 18months instead of 9 (plus two weeks).Then we waited again. Waited for the first smile, the first day he would hold his own bottle, the first step, the first day of school, first date. It all seemed to take so long.
How long those 40 days for leader-Moses must have been. But Moses was not alone—God was fulfilling the promise made to meet him. God kept that promise. God spoke to Moses and gave him the framework for the law, the Ten Commandments. Then he sent him back to the people with a message, a call for the people of God. The real work had just begun. And there was more ~ waiting games ahead.
It seems we are all talking about waiting! It seems, that we-the-people in the congregation/church, are just as anxious as the Israelites. We really can’t wait. We can’t wait for a 18-36 month vision plan, not to mention the 5-7 yr plan. We want to see results! We want it (spiritual growth, membership growth, financial growth) now!!!!
Are there clues or insights do we get from the Moses story?
After he comes down from his great mountain retreat –from the bliss of being in the presence of God, he is faced with the harsh reality that things did not go so well while he was gone. While he was taking great notes from God – a game plan of sorts – the people in the valley below were partying on the job.
Moses was ready to get back to the nitty-gritty work of leading the people of Israel toward the promised-land, but he found a people not ready for the work. They were grumpy and rebellious and complained that they liked the “way things used to be”.
After 40 days on top of the mountain, this is what you get when you climb back down?
We all know that, parent, leader, childcare provider, it’s not always fun to be on the one in charge. It doesn’t always make you a lot of friends and it can be a lot of hard work.
Moses had his mountain top experience and all too soon it was over.
To say he was disappointed with what he found upon his return would be an understatement. He is angry. He is furious about they way people acted while he was away.
Are we are allowed to be disappointed, even shout out in anger?
What does it take for leaders to have a non-anxious presence in the midst of demands for microwave-like results?
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*Part ii of Exodus: chapters 20-40
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”
13 So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.
14 To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.
17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.
18 Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. Exodus 24:12-18 (NRSV)
