Leanness

Psalm 106:10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11The waters covered their enemies; There was not one of them left. 12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. 13 They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, 14But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert. 15 And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.

This passage makes me very careful about asking God for what I ask for, and how I ask.

Attitude, as they say, is everything.

I have been in the checkout line on numerous occasions at some discount department store and witnessed a mom or dad dragging their young child by the hand up to the front of the store to join the check-out line. Invariably, the young child is screaming their head off, wailing away about having to have something their parent has made them leave behind at the back of the store, (probably in the toy department.) You just know it’s some cheap, junky thing they want but don’t need. A 5-minute attraction.

While I am sometimes amazed at how much some parents will endure from their children, who sometimes go as far as sprawling out on the floor in full-on tantrum mode, I am not amazed at the behavior of the child. I used to play that game.

Never worked for me. But I wonder what would have happened if it had? What if my dad had said, “Oh, all right, let’s just go back and get that Wham-O Air-Blaster Bazooka…”

What would I have learned in the process? To holler and scream for what I want? Always? To never respect the judgment of my parents about cheap junk? To always have immediate gratification, and never wait and save for anything? No discipline?

Sounds like the United States of America right now doesn’t it? We have an entire generation used to getting everything we want whenever we want it. We have a credit-crisis based entirely on a need for immediate gratification. We have a national government which refuses to make difficult decisions because they fear a very public tantrum. (Better to put off the tough decision until the next election season.) We desire fiscal responsibility nationally, but largesse locally.

There is something else this nation is experiencing: Leanness of the soul. Even to the extent that we don’t have one any more. What is our national identity? Have we begged and borrowed it away? Hold on a minute…I just saw something I want…

-  Pastor Bill