Stepping into the kingdom of God is a scary thing. Too scary for the Hebrew nation. With our past and our fears and failures and our oppressors nipping at our heels the Red Sea opens up. Then in a cleansing baptism, they are all washed away. Grace has set us free. Just travel across a short desert while we get some basic operating procedures and step into the kingdom. It is not a sea step with threatening walls of water on each side and the army at our heals. Just waltz on across the river. Why is this so hard? Why can't I, we, embrace this gift of grace and provision? Why let fear and uncertainty create new oppressors?
This is the work now. A labor of love. To move into happiness. Move into a land of honey. Move into a house already built. It takes a battle or two but battles God has won already. Just go through the motions, Walt. Claim the riches of Jericho - the walls are down already. Walk with Gideon through the valley of the enemy conquered with clay pots. Crest the hill with Hezekiah to find the enemy slain over night. Go ahead and join Ezra. Cyrus, unbidden, sends us to rebuild temple walls. A kingdom for the taking.
Has the surety of desert so much more appeal than risk? Is the memory of leeks so much more lovely than the hope of figs? Let the waters cover the chariots of Egypt. Let them drown the memory and security of servitude. Let the mighty waters crush the way back home. Let our new security be not in what we had or have but in who parts the second water. You are not far from the kingdom. Indeed. Not far.
