Courage | Valentine's Day

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.

A lot happens when Moses is speaking and writing to the Israelistes in Deuteronomy. From chapter 28 through 32, he expresses much in the way of telling people that they have a choice in following the commanents he has been laying out. The people can choose to engage in consistent, covenental persistence in following God's commands with heart and soul, or face the dire consequences. They can follow trusting that they will gain much and be blessed greatly, or choose paths that lead to experiencing the harships that come and God turning away from them.

It is a challenging space to be in, reading of how loving, walking with, and following God leads to fruitfulness along side words of caution and fear of God. Yet, the more I read, the more I realized that this is a story which shows just how well God knows us.

God knew that Moses was old and dying, unable to cross over the Jordan to posses the land. God knows that the mantal needed to be passed down to the next generation if there was to be hope in this moment. Yet, God also knew that while Moses was able to hold a lot of the people together, even under his leadership people were losing their way and more would lean into other gods and paths of living once Moses died. God knew what the Isrealites and those among them were like us, often only seeing in hindesight the calamity of our choices like children who don't recognize the long-term consequences of their current actions or just don't care. No matter how good life would be for following the commandments, and no matter how harsh the punishment for ailing, without persistent pressure and attention, the people would fall into sinfulness and ignore or forget God.

While the Old Testament story in Moses' words points back to warnings of God turning his back on those who chose aother god's then, it is that God who saves us from ourselve in Christ. This shift in God's ways is one of investing in us through loving sacrifice. Rather than cycles of hand-off such as Moses to Joshua at Moses' death, God took the mantal of example and leadership from a position of the least among us. He lived and served and embraced the fullness of the human experiences from birth to great suffering on the cross. He died an unimaginably painful death on display on a cross, extending his own suffering as if to experience the pains the Isrealites were warned of by Moses. Then, he overcame death as if to say "There is no power here that can take me away from you and I will never leave you."

In a way, God, in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, is our valentine. In this divine story we gain grace up on grace with the gift of never-ending and never-failing love. It is a love that invites us to not only connect with God at work before we were ever born, but the ability to be lifted up out of our failures time and again, dusted off from our forgetfullness, and handed the gift of another chance at life, sent back out into the world just a bit lighter in heart and mind.

What a blessing it is to be the apple of God's eye, when everything seems to be falling apart, when we are not enough, when others are against us and doubting our faith-filled joy, we are empowered to "be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you."

Yes, fear has been real, but with the Lord I have confidence and am ready to engage in pursing the life that God has for me. I will set my mind on thinking in ways that align with Jesus Christ's ways. I will serve in ways that offer tangible benefits to all of God's creation. I will persist in a spirit of holy and righteous living by faith. I will stand with courage in the face of challenging circumstances. And, I will lift up those who may have only known what it is to be torn down, those who many be like the child who doesn't receive a valentine as others seem flooded with expressions of love.

Be bold in your love today beloveds and may the strength of God be your strength when you don't think you have it in you to love so deeply that you risk failing or falling short in your human imperfection. The reality is, God's love will fill the gaps and actually already has done the heavy lifting. Our job is to show up as we love ourselves, love others, and love God the best that we can just as we are.