Consider this list: a local restaurant under construction, a high school dropout, the cross-stitch I've been working on for six years, a young person killed in an accident. All of these have one thing in common: they describe something that has gone unfinished. A building, an education, a craft, a life. There are thousands of things and thousands of people around us that go unfinished. Some people start something and stop because they can't take criticism. Others stop because they're content with what they've done to that point. Still others have their life taken tragically from them, unfinished.
What can we say about the unfinished business of life? I myself have been drawn to that expression that says, "Some look at the glass and say, 'It's half empty.' Others look at the glass and say, 'It's half full.' I look at the glass and say, 'It's too big!' "
Life has so many options, and is so big, we're constantly faced with being unfinished. One excuse we often hear expressed is: "Be patient with me; God isn't finished with me yet!" Only God has the luxury of time, patience, and power. From the beginning God has seen things through to the end. God didn't make us until God had already created everything that would sustain us. And God didn't rest on the seventh day until the work of creation was finished. Yahweh promised Abraham millions of descendants, and chose Joshua to take them to their own land. And God didn't tell Jeremiah to prophesy the fall of Jerusalem without knowing that Haggai would be commissioned to lead the remnant in rebuilding the city. God didn't choose the seed of David without knowing that Jesus of Nazareth would finish that divinely-initiated line.
But in every generation we think God is like us. We get anxious that God will walk away from us because God is bored or the divine feelings have been hurt. The Hebrew people yell at Moses, "You and God brought us out to the desert. Now are you going to let us die?" It's the third time that the people panicked. In just a few months the Hebrews have questioned Moses' authority again and again. "Doesn't God supply you with power? Why did you save us just to kill us in the wilderness?"
Finally, on this occasion their panic infects Moses. There's an ancient Hungarian proverb that says: "If someone calls you a horse, laugh at him. If a second person calls you a horse, think about it. If a third person calls you a horse, maybe you should go buy a saddle."
This is the third occasion when the people doubted whether Moses had any pull with God. Martin Buber reminds us that the semi-nomadic Israelites had the wrong idea. They believed that only if things were going well for them did their leader have divine authority. And because life's necessities were in very short supply, evidently there was a rift between Moses and God.1
After hearing this three times, Moses buys the saddle. He panics too! "God, did you put me through all that trouble with Pharaoh just to have my people bring me out into the desert and stone me?" He sounds like Oral Roberts, who panicked and told his television audience, "If I don't raise eight million dollars, God won't let me live!" Moses is so panicked that God has to lead him through the miracle, step by step, like a distraught caller making a 911 call. God responds almost condescendingly. "It's okay, Moses. Take a few deep breaths. Now, I want you to go stand before the people. You can do it. You've done it many times before. When you go before the people take some elders with you. Are you with me? Now this is very important: Take with you the rod I gave you, that you used to separate the Sea." God has to walk Moses through his panic because Moses is so paralyzed by the skepticism of the people.
There is something sorely missing in the Sinai Desert: it's trust. Look in the dictionary for the word "faith." The primary definition for faith is reliance or trust. Insecurity cannot breed faith anymore than hunger can breed happiness. We find then that God brings water out of the rock, not merely to satisfy a thirsty people, but to build trust in a community that had forgotten how to rely on anyone except slave masters. They needed to live free and open lives. They had to rediscover how to trust God.
There is no way to live a faithful life without trusting that we are still part of God's salvation story. It's like the two brothers who got caught in floodwaters. The two brothers were separated by a swift current but were only yards apart. The brother on the safe side of the current yelled, "Swim hard; I'll grab you!" But the brother who was in danger wasn't willing to trust his brother's grasp. So instead of swimming hard, he grabbed a branch wedged in some rocks and worked his way through the current, hand over hand. Halfway through the current, the branch broke free from its anchor and followed the current, taking the boy with it. The brother on the safe side tried to grab him, but the branch knocked him in the chest and pushed him back.
We can rely on things that look secure. We can rely on people who appear strong. But unless we trust in God, everything we have lived for will be swept away.
I don't want to die yet. And if I live to be a healthy eighty years old, I'll still feel the same way. Indeed, I look forward to heaven, but there is so much in the world to see and do and enjoy. They say more and more people are living to be over one hundred years of age. The Delany sisters, at the ages of 103 and 105, still believe they are learning new things every day. Because of their age they have become celebrities, with several books, television appearances, and even a modeling contract!
Bessie Delany acknowledges that even if you live to be over 100 you don't exhaust life. She stated, "Heaven is my home, but, honey, I ain't homesick yet!"2
Even if I were to live to be over one hundred, I know my life would still end unfinished. Even if by some twist of aging, I should develop into an efficient, highly organized, goal-oriented perfectionist, there's going to be some loose ends at the end of my life. I will still need to seek forgiveness; there will still be wonders to discover and truths to illuminate my life. Even if I grow to be ancient and mature, my life will not be complete. My life has no conclusion until it becomes part of God's salvation story. God alone is our Alpha and Omega.
Paul passed on this brand of trust when he wrote: "I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). If God is going to finish up what we're doing, then God expects us to use our lives to get it off to a good start. You've heard the expression, "It's not over until the fat lady sings." But we hold out for something far more climactic. It is not over until "God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen." The Amen here at the end does not mean "the end," it means "it will be done," or better, "God finish it."
1. Martin Buber, Moses: The Revelation and the Covenant (New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, 1946), p. 88.
2. Sarah and Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth, The Delany Sisters' Book of Everyday Wisdom, read by Iona Morris, Audio Renaissance Tapes: Library Edition (Los Angeles, Calif.: Cassette Productions Unlimited, 1994), tape 2, side 4.