"A Vending Machine God?"
                                  February 24, 2008
   Dan Wilkie, TEI Graduate, Assistant Minister      

Scripture Readings:  Exodus 17: 1-7

             The entire book of Exodus is the history of the Israelite struggle out of slavery in Egypt and their search for the land promised to them by God.

            There are several under currents that we find in this book also that make up a great deal of not only the Jewish faith, but the Christian faith as well; God’s covenant with Moses; Moses’ covenant with God; the Israelite struggle with their faith, and their constant testing of YHWH or God; and lastly, God’s answering prayers and saving of the Israelite people.

            Moses first of all, was an unlikely leader he didn’t even want to be there in the first place, that was until his encounter with God in the form of a burning bush in the Sinai wilderness, when he heard God’s voice “free my people”.  I think most of us probably would have acted like Moses did we would have become instant believers, and no doubt done what Moses was asked to do.  Moses knew God in a way that many of the Israelites did not so his reactions to things were very different than those who followed him.

            The Israelites had come into this whole experience, with what I am sure were certain expectations, probably expecting a much easier trip to the promised land than what they had.  After all the previous disasters and blessings, now this crushing forsaken thirst, not the kind that makes us get up off the couch and get a drink, but the kind where the lips are cracked, the skin parched, the throat swelling up, the kind where kidneys and internal organs begin to shut down, the kind that perhaps only those lost in the desert or lost at sea can fully understand.  In this one more challenge, one more delay, they found their faith challenged, their expectations and dreams shattered, they were tired and frustrated, becoming violently angry, railing against Moses as to why he brought them into the desert to die. 

            As many of you know, when followers become angry with their leaders they can become extremely angry violent mobs capable of violence directed at their leaders, so Moses had real reason to fear for his life.  Moses knew that if water was not found soon the people would stone him to death.  Moses began praying to God to once again save them, “you know God if we don’t get water soon, these people are going to stone me to death, and yes I know God, you have provided for us in the past, and no it is not my faith, that is in question but theirs”.  So hearing Moses’ pleas God commands Moses to take his staff, some elders and go to the rock and water will flow forth, which is exactly what happens, and the people are saved.

            In Moses’ prayer, what we hear is not only Moses’ fear, but his frustration as well, for in all this time God has always provided, forgiving the people when they built a Golden Calf and used it as an Idol because they didn’t trust God. God provided manna for them when they are hungry, parted he Red sea to save them from their enemies and yet so many of the Israelites just didn’t seem to get it, they continue giving in to their fears instead of remaining faithful and trusting in God’s covenant with them.    

            Were not all that different than the Israelites, haven’t most of us had certain expectations for our lives, that great career by the time we are thirty, the perfect partner, the wonderful vacation, the great children, and yet haven’t most of felt betrayed when those kinds of things did not materialize for us.

            Now we may not know the struggles had, we may never know that crushing thirst in the desert, but we have our own kinds of issues that have driven us to desperation, perhaps we have lost a job, or a great career, been divorced, have health problems, or any other number of things. And like the Israelites have we not turned to some sort of Guru to try to help us, something to ease our fears and our pain? Or maybe we have prayed and prayed for the things we want, that we need, some temporary fix to keep from losing that great job or whatever, and not received anything helpful.

            Yet, God is not a vending machine, we don’t just put in two prayers, expecting change back and the exact answers to everything we want to pop out of a door marked God’s Grace. What we often fail to remember is that prayer is seeking God’s will in our lives, something Mahatma Ghandi explains, “Prayer is not simply asking, it is a longing of the soul.  It is daily admission of one’s weakness…”.  If God is an omnipotent power in the universe, is it not possible that God sees far greater things for us than we can ever hope to see, is it not possible that when God answers prayer it is based more on what is best for us, rather than what we want in the short term. 

            If we believe then that God gives us what we need, perhaps then the answer is that the things we are really looking to receive will be far different from our expectations.   Maybe in that layoff we experience, when we move to another town to take on a new job or career different entirely from the one we had, maybe the change is exactly what we need to have happen in our life so that our spirit and our lives are reinvigorated. 

            But as we see faith and prayer are not enough: First we must be open to the answers being different than what we imagine; secondly, we must be able to realize that perhaps if we are not getting answers, that may indeed be the answer we are supposed to have.

            As I think about this concept, I am reminded of the story which started out as a joke about a Midwestern man, and springtime flooding.  It was early spring, the snow was melting and the rivers were rising rapidly, so rapidly that the county’s emergency management coordinator had declared that evacuation was necessary for those living in flood prone areas.  A sheriff’s deputy knocked on the man’s door, and told him he would have to leave, but he shrugged them off, saying God will provide, God will save me, and since they could not arrest him, they left him and went on.  A day or so later, the water had risen up to the point where the man is now in the second story of his house on the roof of his porch, a rescue boat comes to him, and says man get in the boat, you are going to drown, he once again shrugs them off, God will provide, God will save me, and when they try several times to wrestle him into the boat, and having him fight them off, they leave with heavy hearts knowing the man will probably drown.  Two more days go by, and now the water is up to the roof, pushing the house off its foundation, the man is clinging helplessly to the roof peak when a helicopter hovers above him, and a man comes down to him come on man get in the rescue basket, your house is floating away, you’re going to drown, again the man shrugs this attempt to rescue him off, saying God will provide, God will save me.  After several failed attempts to save the man, they fly off to other rescues.  The house eventually washes away and the man is lost in the flood and drowns.  When he gets to heaven, he asks to have a conversation with God, and God consents to see the man.  The man looks at God, “ I am so angry, I had all this faith in you, I prayed and prayed for you to save me and you let me drown in the flood, why?”

            God, looks at the man, sadly, and says “I never let you drown in the flood, I sent a sheriff’s deputy to warn you, I sent a boat to rescue you, and I sent a helicopter as a last resort to take you off the roof, what were you expecting?”

            I know this is kind of strange story, but this is always is most challenging for us, just as it was for the Israelites, it is not enough to have faith, we must truly be willing to act once we have the answers. To work in conjunction with God if you will, we, after all are not idle passers by, but rather equal partners with God in the process, even when the answer is not what we expected, or hoped for, but rather is something else entirely. 

            So during this Lenten season, I have a prayer of my own that I hope we can each share in, when we pray, may we each look at the way we pray, and the things we pray for.  Let us seek to be more open to the kinds of answers we receive, and the possibility that the answers we do receive may not be what we expect.

            And so I leave you with these simple questions to think about just as I have been reflecting on them: 

            What do we really expect from our prayers?

            How might we be more open to the answers, especially those that are different from what we expect?

            What might we do ourselves in response to God, to act on the answers we receive to aid our own outcomes?

            Amen.