Faith and Truth, Part III

 

So, despite my procrastination, I'm going to get in here and do this, because it is the most important part of Exodus that has the biggest parallels with our own time. It's part 3 of the Exodus , here for you. God taking the slack out of his people.

Moses was touched by God, had to face down his own doubts about God and about himself. That was part 1 and can be found here: https://fearfiles.blogspot.com/2023/10/faith-and-truth.html

Following this pattern, Moses had to provide "proof" of his God to Pharaoh, establishing the pattern of worldly governments establishing themselves as "gods" in their own right. You know how that ended.

So, now Moses has been told that he can extract his people from Egypt, and he goes about doing so with a surety that is remarkable, given the challenges. Those challenges are kind of glossed over, so let's dedicate a bit of thought to the lash-up that Moses drug around for 40 yrs.

One morning in the Spring of 1446 BC, after strife that I've not really touched on, Moses woke up from a nap and led 2.5 Million Jews out of Egypt. 600,000 men. And you KNOW that they didn't pack lightly. They brought the fucking kitchen sink with 'em. And let's talk about the character of those people. What do you think they were like?

They had been enslaved for generations. Kept, fed, tended, abused, but dependent in every way on their Egyptian masters. Upon Pharaoh. For their very existence. They knew in their hearts that there was a way of living that was free. God had promised them this in the stories of Abraham and his progeny. They seemed "up" for this challenge, and so Moses led them out.

I mean think about it for a minute. A lot of you have stood in front of, or led formations, but 2.5 million? With all their shit, their kids, and their animals? How daunting was that? My brothers and sisters, Moses was a fucking stud. [Hand and arm signal for "forward"]

As I mentioned earlier, Moses knew he had to hurry because the Man was bound to change his mind and come to destroy his people. And they did. A moment here that gets glossed over in the modern era: In 1446 BC, Egyptian chariots were the modern equivalent of M1A2 Abrams fucking tanks. What's more, Moses KNEW and had employed chariots in his past. All of that risk was known. Think about all of those factors for a couple of minutes.

Right? 600K men. Better part of 1.9 million women, children, and God knows how many dogs, cats, and livestock of every imaginable stripe. But we're free and we're moving and that's a good day, by God.

Oh, except we've got to somehow get all of those people over the Red Sea.

You wanna talk about a "pillar of faith"? Here's Moses, who knows where he's gotta go, and what's pursuing him, and what that force is capable of in terms of destruction, and there's the Red fucking Sea. Bigger than life.

Meanwhile, behind him, he's hearing "Oh shit, we're fucked! We should never have left Pharaoh. This was all a mistake!" And here is the crux of all of this. The sheer will of Moses to hold his leaders to the cause, despite every reason to just give it up. the effectiveness of those leaders to hold the resolve of the people to just keep fucking moving forward.

So, they get to the Red Sea and God fulfills his promise and brings them across (Moses' S-4 had to be dancing a fucking jig, by the way) THEN after every Israelite crossed with dry feet, and the armored phalanx began across the gap, God destroyed the Egyptian phalanx.

2.5 million people. With all their shit. Those of you who've moved people, sit for a minute and contemplate the scale of this miracle. Saved. Moses' faith and will has to be noted here. That's Cooperstown shit, right there. GOAT. I'm gonna skip over a lot of what comes next, but I have a reason for doing so.

What did Moses have to do next? He had to make his people feral again. Abraham was feral. Esau, Joseph, and Jacob were feral. The Israelites that Moses led into the desert were not. They were analogous to domesticated turkeys. It took God one single day to get the Jews out of Egypt. It took God 40 fucking YEARS to get Egypt out of his people.

Right there. That's the Lesson of Exodus. We sit up here, fat and happy, with our "Soft men create hard times" memes. Moses spent 40 years trying to fix that. Because God the Father could not simply allow this weak tribe to go out and be dominated by the feral people in Canaan. He had to harden them, he had to make them effective, so he spent a generation or two making them free.

As

@wayofftheres

and

@DolioJ

and

@Brushbeater

and

@EMBurlingame

and

@braxton_mccoy

et al. have tried to emphasize over the past couple of years, we have a duty to be Moses, essentially. Yet, we can't expect any of the advantages of having God part the Seas for us. Rather, we must rely on our own cunning and resilience to carry us and our families through what is to come. Exodus is a cautionary tale. You should read it. You should think about Moses, and how you measure up.

You don't need "proof", you don't need Him to come down and crush your enemies. The proof is in your heart, it's been there for millions of years. You need only have faith in that tiny voice that begs you to do the next right thing.

Faith and Truth, Part II

 

Tonight, we're going to talk about Exodus again. Because it's instructive, and we might ought to pay attention to what has been laid before us as a lesson for thousands of years. "Faith, truth, and proof"

A quick lead in that is not related to Exodus, but which is common to the human condition and is remarkable throughout this entire argument. Milton, in "Paradise Lost" pointed out something remarkable that you should include in your perceptions: The basis of the sin of Lucifer before the Fall was his assumption that he knew EVERYTHING that was worth knowing. Look upon your politicians and your leaders and judge them according to that.

Assess your own ego and put it against that. But let's get back to Exodus in light of that.

So, when we left Moses night before last, we saw that he begrudgingly accepted his own worth as God's chosen representative, to plea before Pharaoh for the freedom of his people. Daunting, no?

We see that Moses required proof of His ability to pull it off. We talked about my own interpretation of why he did that it part 1 of this. Find it here: https://fearfiles.blogspot.com/2023/10/faith-and-truth.html

But it's remarkable how the entire book of Exodus is dedicated to the central question that was laid before God by everyone: "I require proof of your effectiveness before I will believe that you are the one, true God." Moses did it. Pharaoh did it. The people of Israel did it. Let's talk about Pharaoh tonight, shall we?

So Moses came on and did the Thing. He came to Egypt to free the people of his father, at the behest of the Almighty. Accepting of his function in this, confident in his faith. He was known to Pharaoh, and thus he got an audience with him. His argument was essentially this: "My people are slaves, and my God has sent me here to free them. I require that you do so, immediately."

To which Pharaoh replied, "I am Pharaoh."

Think on it for a sec. "I am the monarch. I am the state. I am God." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? "You need no other authority than ME." "You need look to any other to protect you than ME." "Any who say different are acting in a manner that is unreliable and endangers us all"

"If it is as you say," said Pharaoh, "prove to me that your God is the true God."

And so it went. Proof demanded in order to accept God and release His people. Proof demanded, despite the truth shown to Pharaoh. Over, and over, and over, and over. Until God's wrath was demonstrated to him in such a manner as to take his own child and the children of Egypt.

What can we derive from that? I think Milton's conclusion regarding Lucifer is the most impactful, and is the most repetitive throughout history. "I know EVERYTHING that is worthy as knowing."

That perfectly describes the downfall of the Morningstar, and of every single stupid motherfucking idea we've ever heard of. If one is careful in his study, one can note that pride as being the foremost cause of every single tyranny in the history of the fucking world.

The demand for "Proof" of God. The denial of the existence, purpose, and plan of God. Rather than faith in what is plainly the most powerful thing imaginable. What can one do in the face of that?

Challenge oneself, as Moses did, to fulfill one's potential. Walk before God with humility and paying attention to opportunities that appear within that mindset. Then, move forward aggressively to take advantage of that opportunity. Pharaoh's and Lucifer's failure cannot be our own. We DON'T know EVERYTHING that is worth knowing. It is upon us to remain humble in our perception of the world. That is our choice, and it is what separates us from Pharaoh. It is what makes us free.

Freedom, indeed, is predicated on the humility to admit that one is wrong, that one has much to learn, that He is not finished with us until we die. It is predicated on the discipline to listen, to assume that we'll never know ALL the answers, and to remain open to His will. Pharaoh could not see this. His pride was too consuming. His people paid for that.

Moses had seen this, walked appropriately in his faith, and led his people out of Egypt. Out of tyranny. With no assurances. "Go and do the Thing," he was told.

He did the Thing, with faith in himself and faith in his God. In front of a people who had been slaves, domesticated for generations. And THAT is the third level to this lesson, and we'll deal with that tomorrow.

Faith and Truth

There is so much truth that we can take from Exodus, if we can just put down our modern sensibilities and consult that ancient wisdom that lies deep within each of us. Among the most important lessons that we can derive is the repeated bludgeoning of the ineffective tactic of trying to provide "proof" of God to those who are neither willing nor prepared to receive God. It's a great fucking story, that runs a few different levels.

First level: Moses himself. Moses by virtue of this faith, has been chosen by God to free His chosen people. He is God's Instrument in this particular situation. (henceforth "Moses" will be referred to as "Mo", in deference to my mortarmen. IFYKYK) Lotta back and forth in this. Mo doesn't think he's worthy. Mo doesn't want the responsibility. Mo has doubts. One can understand. It's a heavy, heavy burden, and one that takes a special kind of madness to take up and do the Thing appropriately.

@wayofftheres

talks about this.

Mo eventually agrees and goes about doing the Thing. How to convince folks of his cause? Won't they just think I'm fucking crackers? This is the first level: even though Mo has PROOF, Mo lacks FAITH in himself. He had to get past that before he began his work. God nudged him.

So God said, "What's that in your hand?" Mo: "A staff" God: "Heh. Check it out."

So it's fucking PROOF, right? But Mo needed the FAITH in himself (and by extension, what God was telling him). So God went through several examples of proof. Finally, armed with this, Mo felt confident enough to go and do the Thing.

The hour is late and the flesh is weak, so I'll wind up the first level with a few observations. 1) Perception & knowledge differ by virtue of our willingness to accept the reality of what we perceive. Failure to do so results in us lying to ourselves.

2) Demanding proof in order to have faith is a fool's game. You know truth in your heart the moment that you perceive it. Refusal to act in a manner that is required by virtue of that truth is a moral failure.

3) Demanding MOAR proof is just stubbornness and rationalizing of what is right in front of you. You know what you should be doing in your heart. Some of it will require you to change. Some of it will require sacrifice of things you like.

Change is ubiquitous, whether you like it or not. Sacrifice is your duty as an adult human being, no matter how much you'd like to take it easy. Have faith in your ability to become what you're meant to be. Get after it, fella. 2nd Level tomorrow night.