What Do You See?

"There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: "No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors…  And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.  But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea." (Deuteronomy 1:31-35, 39-40)   One might think that a good parent-child relationship builds trust.  But that is not Israel's response to God's fatherly care that saved them and provided for them.  Even despite the report of a good land from Moses, from the spies, and from God's own promise.  Even despite the assurance received from Moses and from the Israelite's own experience.  Even still: fear of the "facts" as the Israelites decided to see them overshadowed the relationship of trust with God their Father.  This is now the third time that Israel has responded in fear instead of in faith.  The first time was when they asked to send spies to show them where to go instead of trusting the God who had led them by cloud and fire to show them where to go.  The second time was when they named all the many fears they had, including not only a fear of the scary people in the land, but also a fear that God their father actually hated them and intended to kill them off by means of the Amorites in the land. After this second time, Moses assures them: do not be afraid—God will fight for you and care for you as a Father—just as you yourselves have seen him do these past years in the wilderness!  But they would not trust in this Lord.  They would not believe that he loved them.  They would not believe that he was a good father who intended to give good gifts to his children. So finally God himself speaks.  To the people who could not see the gifts of provision and care in the wilderness: they will not see the good gift of the promised land either.  To the people who saw God as a God of hate that wished for their death, they will receive precisely what they expected: death as a punishment from their God.  For this people unwilling to be children of the father, their place would be taken by true children: their own.  Through this passage runs a common question of the Bible.  The question is: what do you see? Do you more quickly see enemies or gifts?  Do you see scarcity or abundance?  And what God do you see?  A God of love, or of hate?  To put the question differently, do you see the world through the eyes of a child, or of a cynic?  Children know how to receive gifts, receive love, receive care.  Children are trusting.  Children have faith.  As the writer of Hebrews will later write, reflecting on all the stories of Israel: "faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  So, what do you see when you look out at the world around you?  May God open your eyes more and more to the childlike, faith-filled vision of his fatherly care, good gifts, and loving action.