Dusty Paths to Glory Part II

”They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips” (Psalm 106:32-33).

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:2, 15).

The dust doesn’t come off on its own.

“Stop being bitter.”

Yeah.

We know we should.

But should doesn’t work.

Ten weeks, ten months, ten years, it is still there. We scrape, scratch, try to wash the dusty stains off, and it still clings. Or we ignore it. We justify it. We don’t know what to do with it. Yet, we are not alone—our dusty footsteps follow the footsteps of Moses, the most humble man who ever lived.

Heat—the circumstance: (See Numbers 20 for the whole story.) Moses’ feet walked in the literal dust. Desert. Hot. Thirst. And a crowd of people crying out for water. They were grumbling. “Moses! Water!” Fear must have crept in—where was water? We can’t live without water. It’s essential! Each breath of the hot, dusty desert air into an increasingly parched throat was a vivid reminder of the need and the lack. Fingers and grumblings turned against Moses. Moses must have felt the weight, and still might have been grieving his sister’s death.

Thorns—the response: And Moses cried, “Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Scholars debate what the exact sin was: disobedience for striking the rock instead of speaking to it; attributing the water’s forthcoming to himself (“Shall we”); anger against the people; etc. Whatever the case, God showed the underlying heart: “You did not believe in me; you did not uphold me as holy.” The psalmist in Psalm 106 says bitterness was part of this—the people made his spirit bitter. Perhaps Moses felt he was on his own and he had to bring forth water, a heavy load and God should have provided it. Perhaps he felt the people weren’t trusting him enough for after all he had been a faithful leader and once again they were turning against him! Perhaps he felt he was being treated unfairly, too great a load with his sister’s death, the demands of the people, the desert heat. Either way, the thorns of bitterness crept up, disappointment and anger at being treated unfairly.

Cross—Christ’s power and answer: What was the way out that God provides? If Christ were there, what would he have said to Moses?

If he felt alone: “Moses, you are not alone; I came down from heaven so that you could be with me and my Father in the Spirit, so you could participate in the Triune dance! You see God’s faithfulness in me! You are not alone to bear this weight, for I have born it all. I do not ask more of you than you can do, for I am with you and for you and empowering you with my Spirit.”

If he felt the people weren’t trusting him: “Moses, I too was betrayed by the people, rejected, when I showed only love and faithfulness. You are not alone in this. But when the people grumbled against me and even killed me, I bore their sins and forgave them. Trust me to bear their sins and extend forgiveness. For you too have grumbled against me; you are no better than they. But I have poured out grace and mercy on you, more than you could ever imagine. Moses, this is part of sharing in my sufferings, and sharing in my death, and sharing in my life, and sharing in the power of my resurrection of new life and new love. This is part of sharing in my love.”

If he felt too burdened and was bitter against God: “Moses, you are seeing my Father as a cruel taskmaster, placing more on you than you can bear. I have come to reveal the Father’s true goodness! His deep love! If you are feeling the burden is to heavy, that God is not kind to you, look to me. You will see how good the Father is, that he gives his own Son and how will he not graciously give you all things as well (Rom. 8:31-32)? You will see that these trials and troubles are working something far better for you. You will see that you are not alone in bearing these, but divine energy and divine resources are your (2 Pet. 1:3-4; Col. 1:28-29; Gal. 5:22-23).”

In the cross of Christ, we see the power to forgive, we see we are not treated unfairly but given more grace and mercy than we could ever imagine. Christ specifically will address our root of bitterness. Paul and the author of Hebrews, when they address bitterness, urge us to look to Christ and his forgiveness, his work. It is looking to Christ that we alone can dig out the root of bitterness. No “should” will ever work.  

Fruit—Christ’s response in us as we look to him after the heat and confess the thorns: if Moses had stopped to contemplate Christ (or what he knew of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness that were clearly shown in the Exodus), perhaps the story would have had a different ending. Perhaps he could have felt cared for, felt the rich grace of God towards him that would have allowed him to extend forgiveness and brush off the bitter attacks, he could have known he was completely accepted by God and didn’t need to worry about the evaluations and attacks of the people. Perhaps he could have lifted the Lord up as holy before the people.

We tread the same desert paths. HEAT produces THORNS, and may it drive us to the CROSS so we bear his FRUIT!

Heat: Mary has a brother that doesn’t care about her, seeks all the attention, so she feels neglected and it has crept into bitterness.

Thorns: She lives in bitterness, anger, distancing herself from her family.

Cross: The Spirit points to Christ, reminding Mary that she was not treated fairly—fairness would have been no common grace, no breath of air for a rebellious creature, no hope, no relationship with God. The Spirit points to God the Father, that God just overflowed in love and compassion and that Christ showered out attention on her, that God is her Father now. Christ on the cross enables her to know the Spirit’s indwelling and his fruit to respond in love.

Fruit: Mary can forgive as she is being filled up in Christ. She can forgive her parents for not being who they are supposed to be and for their failures as Mary sees her own failure in light of the cross and her being forgiven. When she fails again and the dust of bitterness cakes again, she looks to Jesus and once again realizes grace. Joys in Jesus as sufficient.

The blessed joy of having Christ wash us! The dust falls off as we look to him. Yet, there are layers of dust that are harder.

NOTES

Thank you to Paul Tripp and Soma Spokane’s Gospel Fluency for some of the ideas and process behind this post.