God's Presence

June 19, 2009
Rabbi Seymour Rossel

     In this week's portion, Moses is disappointed by the report of the spies. The majority of them -- ten of the twelve -- believe that it is impossible for the Israelites to overcome the Canaanites. And the Israelites believe the spies' majority report. They wail, "If only God had left us in Egypt and not brought us here to die by the sword." The Torah portrays God's anger. God tells Moses, I will destroy this people and create a new people from you and your children.

     But Moses argues against this kind of rash decision. And his argument is very persuasive. Moses reminds God that the Egyptians are watching to see what will become of the Israelites. If God were to destroy the Israelites, the Egyptians would say it was because God was powerless to bring them into their Promised Land, powerless to defeat the Canaanites and their gods, powerless even to make the Israelites believe in God. Moses goes on to say, "For the Egyptians have heard that the Israelites are a people with God in their midst. The Egyptians know that God appears to the people as a cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night."

     The cloud and the pillar of fire are signs of God's presence. Like the ancient Israelites, when times are difficult we have a tendency to forget God's presence, or to think that God has abandoned us, or even to imagine that there is no God at all. When we lose a loved one, when we suffer a divorce, when we lose a job, when we find our bank accounts shrinking and wonder whether how we will weather the storms of economic crisis, when things are going against us, we face a moral crisis not unlike the moral crisis caused by the majority report of the twelve spies.

     When we are down and out, does that mean that God has abandoned us? Or is the crisis one of our own making?

     A story is told about a surgeon, an architect, and an economist who sat down to dinner. An argument arose about which of them was most essential to the world. The surgeon said, "Look at the story of Adam in the Garden of Eden. The first thing God did was to anesthetize Adam, perform surgery, remove a rib, and create Eve. Obviously, being a surgeon is the most essential profession."

     The architect asked, "Aren't you forgetting something? The first thing God actually did was to create heaven and earth and all that is in them. Obviously, being an architect is the most essential profession -- only an architect can bring order out of chaos."

     The economist just grinned a big grin and said, "Yes, but only an economist can create chaos so efficiently!"

     So, times are rough right now. But we know that there is no human life without some difficulties, just as there is no human life without some pleasure. Life is what we make of it. God did not create a universe of chaos, God created a universe out of chaos.

     It is in difficult times that we look for the signs of God all around us. And, if we look, we find them. They are as clear today as they were in the days of the ancient Israelites. They saw a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. By day, we see our families and our friends, the natural beauty of the sunlight and the sky, the trees and even the unending loyalty of our pets. By night, we only need step outside to see the stars assuring us that our world is part of God's universe and the moon that reflects the glorious light of God's day.

     No matter what your loss, there is something gained. You learn about resources that were inside you that you almost forgot existed. You may find yourself able to reach out to help another person, even when you feel a little helpless about how to proceed yourself. And you may find that others reach out to support you, to help you through your crisis. There are so many resources in our midst, all of them given to us by God for us to use, sometimes for ourselves and sometimes for others.

     There is no doubt that God is still in our people's midst, even now, just as God's presence was seen by the ancient Israelites. But we must know what to look for and what to expect; what not to look for and what not to expect.

     Most important is not to confuse God with luck or fate. What happens to us is not caused by God except in the most abstract sense; and God does not change our luck on demand except in the most abstract sense. Praying to God will not bring back a loved one who has died, undo a divorce, or bring us a new job. But praying to God can help us cope with these things. Prayer revives our inner resources and reminds us of God's presence. With the renewed strength that prayer can bring us, we can find that most important truth which the Torah and Moses teaches: Your job in troubled times is not to destroy yourself and start all over again, but to be yourself, to assert yourself and to rediscover the strengths and beliefs that you have built up in good times.

     God's presence is always with you, always within you, always ready to be activated by you. You can imagine it best as your personal cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, guiding you to what is really essential. If you have a little more time to enjoy your family, a little more inclination to be kind to others, a little more energy to blaze a new trail for your future, you have found God's presence in your life. And let us say: Amen.