IN THE WILDERNESS

 

WALKING WITH PURPOSE OR WANDERING AIMLESSLY?

Ke Sontaha hape!  It is Sunday again!  Neo and his friends get to go to the large Afrikaans church again tonight.  For several months now they have been faithfully attending the English services on Sunday evenings and Nandi, their guardian at the childrens’ home, drives them there in a minibus.  Initially for the first few months, elements other than the ministry fuelled Neo’s curiosity and eagerness to attend.  The sheer size and luxury of the building and its amenities.  The free popcorn and the amazing drinks station where he could drink as much of whatever his heart desires without any supervision.  But ever since pastor Ben gave them each their very own NIV Bible, Neo has noticed a change starting to happen in his heart.  Suddenly, unlike before, he is not just merely going through the motions of animating Dominee Bob’s 77 steps through the Old Testament.  He is now curious about the story behind the 77 steps far more than about the building and refreshments.  

In Neo’s own words:

I have always known about God and the Bible, and I used to believe that God lives far away and the Bible is just the oldest book in human history.  That was until I met a specific group of old white people at the Afrikaans church.  Dominee Bob is the team leading minister of the Afrikaans church, pastor Ben is a part-time preacher and friend of the church, oom Vic and tannie Tammy are wise leaders and Jo, the tannie who doesn’t want to be called tannie, is the resident, living dictionary/encyclopedia who always brings along her adopted daughter, Pulane.  Not only are these people friends who care deeply for each other, but they show up every week, they are happy to see us and they minister to us with love.  They talk about God and Jesus as if they spend time with Them everyday and when they talk about the Bible, the words in there come alive.  I also want what they have.  I want to know God, walk with Jesus and have His Word hidden in my heart and not just words in my mind and memory.

Tonight is oom Vic’s turn to preach and Neo really likes it when he teaches them, because he speaks intentionally slower than the others.  He takes the time to explain things in a way which makes it easy for Neo to understand difficult things.  The services are conducted in English, a very difficult language for all except English-speaking pastor Ben, Jo and Pulane.  Oom Vic chose a specific part of the story of the Israelites as theme for his message.  God had just freed these people from the yoke of slavery, they crossed the miraculously parted Red Sea on dry land and could then look back to observe their angry pursuers getting swallowed up by the gigantic walls of seawater retracting back into its original position.  They found themselves in a WILDERNESS on the other side, but instead of faithfully WALKING in purpose with their mighty God on a short 11-day journey to the promised land, they chose to whine and whinge in self pity.  It led to them WANDERING aimlessly around the desert for 40 years before they finally reached the promised land.  Oom Vic reminded everyone that our merciful God is always good and that His plans are good.  He ended with an encouragement to sing praises to the Lord morning, noon and night.

In Neo’s own words:

I cannot recite all 77 steps by myself yet, but Dominee Bob is patient with us and soon we will be able to remember all of them.  I have read some passages in my Bible and I have a lot of questions.  How did it go from Adam, Eve, Cain and Seth to a population of people from all over?  What did Noah do with all the animal poop in the ark?  And, again, how could one family populate the world after the flood? I am quite sure of one thing though, there is pattern of human behaviour in the Bible that still exists today.  God loves people.  People mess up and then repent.  God has mercy on them and restores them, because He loves them.  Repeat.  A couple of weeks ago, we had fun with Jo while working through our activity books.  She asked us to think about the Bible characters and choose someone we would like to imitate.  When she was met with silence, she opened up the playing field to include all people and then I told her that I want to be like Thor.  Someone asked her who she would like to imitate and, without hesitation, she said that she would like to be like Simon Peter when he got out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.  Then Jo turned serious, but in a tender way, and she read Matthew 28 to us while tears welled up in her eyes.  Jesus promised to be with us until the very end of the age.  Step 77 is Jesus Christ, Son of God, Redeemer of mankind.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103‬:‭1‬-‭5‬, ‭20‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬