COMMENTARY:
In the wilderness
___By Velma D. Stevens
___A few weeks ago, I was "e-mailing chatting" with a long-term friend. Although we are both Baptists, I had not mentioned our convention controversy in my e-mails. Her husband had held various denominational jobs on state and national levels ever since he left seminary. I did not know what their position might be in the current situation. But in this e-mail, I tentatively mentioned being a Baptist felt like being "in the wilderness."
___ Her immediate response astounded me. "That’s exactly the way we feel," she replied. "We feel like we’re wandering in the wilderness. We’ve been in the center of Baptist life all our lives, and now we don’t know where we are. We can’t even talk with our friends about what’s going on because we don’t know how they will respond. I’m glad I can talk to you."
___ Many people feel as my friend does. They have given their whole lives to the Southern Baptist Convention. With all the changes of the last 20-plus years, the compass on which they depended seems to have disappeared. They are "wandering in the wilderness."
___ But this older generation is not the only one affected. Numbers of people in their 20s and 30s also are bewildered. They have grown up in the midst of controversy. The Southern Baptist Convention about which their elders talk so fondly does not seem to exist. They hear arguments for both sides, but they are not convinced that either side represents the SBC that their elders remember. They seem to have no secure place in which to stand. They are "wandering in the wilderness."
___ And many people in the churches who have been Baptists from the Cradle Roll up, who have embraced Southern Baptist life and programs, feel disoriented. They have been so proud to be Southern Baptists! Now they see the wrangling and dissension and wonder where it all started. They would like to continue to affirm their Southern Baptist roots. But where are those roots? They are "wandering in the wilderness."
___ "Wandering in the wilderness" may not be such a bad situation if we look at it from the biblical perspective. The phrase reminds us of the 40 years of wilderness wanderings by the Israelites before God allowed them to enter Canaan. God had condemned the older generation to die in the wilderness (Numbers 14). They had seen God’s wonders in Egypt and in the Sinai desert. But when the time came to conquer Canaan, they got "cold feet." God could not use them to complete the task.
___ The next generation, the children in the Exodus, along with those born in the wilderness, would follow God’s direction. This was a much smaller group, who were tested by living as "shepherds in the wilderness." They lived with the tabernacle containing the ark of the covenant. They saw God’s "pillar of cloud" by day and the "pillar of fire" by night. They learned to trust God and be obedient.
___ This is not stated specifically, but we can imagine that their parents told them stories of God’s great deliverance from Egypt. These older folk must have wanted their children and grandchildren to know of God’s wonders. Otherwise, Israel’s memories of the Exodus might not have been so vivid. So the older generation had its part to play in God’s plans for God’s people.
___ In the "wilderness wanderings" we have one instance of God using a part of God’s people – a "remnant" – to fulfill God’s purpose of salvation.
___ What is a "remnant"? It is the small part left over from a larger piece. It usually is an insignificant part, as in a remnant of piece goods – the end of a bolt of cloth which is too small to make into a garment.
___ The biblical vision of the remnant goes far deeper. The remnant is the people surviving the judgment of God upon whom God can depend to carry out the purpose of salvation. Noah, with his family, is an example of a remnant. Noah trusted God and obeyed God’s command. He became the nucleus of a new people of God. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, he was not given a choice. He was the recipient of God’s grace and carried on God’s purpose, though not always perfectly.
___ The prime example of God’s use of the "remnant" came during the Babylonian exile. Probably some readers of this article feel that they are "in exile" as well as "wandering in the wilderness." After all, the Israelites had come out of slavery in Egypt. They had the Promised Land to look forward to. The people taken into captivity in Babylon had lost something of great value to them – Jerusalem, the site of their holy temple and the center of their religious life.
___ Perhaps many Baptists feel the same way those Israelites did. Although we are not in captivity, we feel as if we have lost much that gave us our identity. It is all too easy to look back rather than to look ahead. "Jerusalem" is more real to us than the Promised Land. So the way God worked with the exiles in Babylon has lessons for us just as the "wilderness wanderings" do.
___ The idea of a "remnant" as the way God deals with God’s people came to fruition during the Babylonian exile. The people of Israel and Judah had broken their covenant with God. They had engaged in idol worship. They had committed sins against their fellow Israelites – fraud, dishonesty, self-righteousness, arrogance, oppression of the poor and the widows and the orphans. Isaiah and Jeremiah promised that a small part of the exiles would return to their own land. They would repent of their sins and turn to God. The Lord would cleanse them of their sins, protect them like a shepherd, and restore them to prosperity and peace. He would make a new covenant with them, a "better covenant" than the one Israel broke. He would raise up for them a leader who would further God’s universal purpose of salvation.
___ A "remnant" did return to Palestine after 70 years of captivity. These were a "new generation," not the original exiles. They did not always follow the Lord’s command, as Ezra and Nehemiah tell us. But they learned the lessons of exile – that the Lord is the one and only true God, and that the Lord is with his people in all places and all circumstances. They failed to be all that God intended for them to be. But the Jews provided the homeland for Jesus, as well as his human lineage. And from the Jewish people came the small group of Jesus’ followers (probably a little over 100) who formed the nucleus for the new people of God, the Christian church.
___ What constitutes a remnant? How does it come into being?
___1. The remnant is formed from the survivors of a disastrous period that is identified with God’s judgement.
___2. They are confronted with a hostile environment.
___ 3. They do not have adequate resources.
___4. They do not have a clear plan for their future.
___ 5. They are totally dependent on God’s grace.
___ What is God’s purpose for the remnant? God’s purpose for God’s world has been the same since before the beginning of time: That human beings might have salvation through faith. God has chosen to spread the word of this salvation through human beings. Nor has the Lord chosen to work with hordes of people, with nations or with the powerful. God has made use of very small groups to publish the good news of salvation to everyone. Sometimes these small groups comprise "remnants" – people who have survived catastrophic events or God’s judgment on a larger group of people. God’s work never is dependent on numbers or on human strength. God said to Zechariah, a prophet of the returning remnant: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit" (Zechariah 4:6). God added, "Whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice" (v. 10).
___ How does God promise to work with the remnant to fulfill the purpose of God’s salvation for the world? When we look at examples of the remnant in the Bible – Noah, the Israelites in the wilderness, the exiles in Babylon – we find important teachings. God promised to deliver these people from the consequences of judgment. God was ready to purify them from the sins that brought judgment upon the larger group. God would renew the covenant with them, on a deeper level than before. God would restore their security and prosperity; he would provide them with leadership and protection. God’s judgment is never the end of the story. Beyond judgment lies mercy, with restoration and renewed ability to carry out God’s purpose.
___ So for Baptists there is a Promised Land, although its outlines may not be clear to us now. We have no "spies" to bring back word to us. But we can trust the promise of God to the remnant, to bring us to a place of security and blessedness. This probably will be more spiritual than material. God has the resources we need to carry out God’s mission for us.
___ How then do we live as the remnant? God does not bypass the free will of human beings in providing a remnant for the purposes of God’s salvation. Those who are willing to be used by God comprise the remnant. So we first recognize that we can act as God’s remnant. Then we follow God’s direction.
___ The prophets of the exile had clear words for the remnant. Some of the clearest are found in Jeremiah 31. One verse in that chapter is very familiar to us: "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts" (v. 33). We have not always realized that this "new covenant" was made with the remnant! This is a long chapter. But it contains words of wisdom that are as relevant for us as they were in Jeremiah’s day.
___ The chapter opens with a statement of God’s love for God’s people (v. 3). God then promises to return the remnant to their homeland (vv. 7-8). They come with "weeping" for their sins (v. 9). In the same verse, God assures them of the divine parental love. Theirs is a heartfelt repentance for the sins of God’s people (vv. 18-19). This is necessary whenever there has been a judgment, for all of us are involved in whatever happens to our group. We may not have participated in the corporate sins. But we surely have turned a blind eye of indifference to what has been going on. God gives assurance of forgiveness and love to the repentant remnant (v. 20).
___ The next significant part of the chapter is related to God’s new covenant of the heart (vv. 33-34). We Christians live under this new covenant, but we often need to reaffirm it. We too easily fall into the old ways of following laws, regulations and formal statements of belief. What is necessary is to "know the Lord." Such knowledge always is a matter of the heart. When we follow God in our hearts, God is truly our "shepherd" (vv. 10-11) and our "father." Then we can participate in God’s promise: "There is hope for your future" (v. 17).
___ How do we live as the remnant? By laying hold of the promises of God. By participating in God’s plan for bringing salvation to all humankind. By looking toward the future and not toward the past.
___ All of us Baptists wandering in the wilderness have a part to play. The "older generation" can teach the younger ones the true meaning of their Baptist heritage. We may not enter the Promised Land, but we can stand on the mountain and glimpse it. The "younger generation" can live in hope of a better future. The past was not always that great! What God has in store for them is far greater than they have ever imagined.
___ This is a vision worth embracing – to know that living in the wilderness means living with the daily presence and guidance of God and looking toward God’s Promised Land, which may also turn out to be our homeland.
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