wait until you are given what you have been invited to be given

some image thoughts on Exodus

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This was the moment right before they made a golden calf.⁣

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It was filled with mystery, hiddenness, patience, apprehension, lack of control, maybe even disappointment.⁣

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Moses had been in the lightning cloud for over a month with no sign of coming back. What do you do with moments of utter bewilderment? ⁣

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On the podcast “the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” - listened last year- Mark Driscoll says he was called to marry his wife and “teach the Bible for the rest of his life”…. which I think is interesting. I think it’s interesting that he didn’t say “dedicating my life to help people encounter the God that the Bible speaks about,” because that would mean we shouldn’t make the Bible opaque, meaning not an end but a means.⁣

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I’m not here to knock anyone who wants to teach the Bible. I have many fine friends who do. But I will submit that the Bible is more attractive to teach than to teach about God. ⁣

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The Bible contains words… and we know what to do with words. We know how to define, control, and wield those words to our liking.⁣

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The Divine is an unfathomable invisible Holy Mystery… that feels really hard to put a finger on most days. It’s nothing one can completely define, control, or even wield to their liking. ⁣

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Talking about the Bible with certainty feels rational.⁣

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Talking about God with certainty feels laughable.⁣

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So of course we would be attracted to the which we can hold in our hands, like a statue, a coin, or a book.⁣

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The thing about the Cloud of Mystery though is that’s where words emerge. Its where vision for a new way of being is imagined. It’s where our true name is spoken.⁣

This all happened before anything was written down.

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So if you find yourself in the cloud of unknowable mystery, rest in the invitation to wait until you are given what you have been invited to be given.⁣

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Welcome to your Exodus from needing to control everything.⁣

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