Renewal

When God led Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt, they did not automatically have the just and prosperous society that they hoped for. All throughout their long journey, they wavered in and out of faith with the Lord who dealt with them accordingly.

When the Filipinos had their first Edsa, like the Israelites, they thought that they would have the just and prosperous society that they had hoped and fought for. Like Moses, they thought Cory, the anointed one, would lead them to deliverance.

As with the Israelites and their desert, the first Edsa did not bring about that much-needed change. The 2nd Edsa did not fare as well. We are as a nation, as a people, still very far from our ideal society, one led by God-fearing leaders, one marked by justice, truth, peace and prosperity for all.

What lessons did the journey of deliverance of the Israelites impart to all? What lessons can we pick up from their desert journey so that we will have the society and the government that we dream of as a people?

It is faith. Unconditional faith and obedience in God who is our one and only Savior, our Deliverer.

 How did the Israelites prepare and successfully escape from their Egyptians tormentors? They believed in the power and love of God, unconditionally. When Moses asked them to prepare themselves before their escape, they followed his instructions to the letter and immediately. At the Red Sea, even as it looked bleak and hopeless for the Israelites to escape as they found themselves between the pursuing Egyptians and the threatening sea, they believed in God’s words through Moses and crossed the uncertain sea, with just their unwavering faith and complete trust and hope in the Lord’s love for them.

And how did we go through our two Edsas? United in faith and complete trust, we believed in the Lord. We believed even as we were uncertain, even as we were threatened by the forces of government and so much evil and corruption around us. We let go and let God then, in the first Edsa, in the second Edsa.

 We did not count the costs. We were unmindful of the risks and dangers. All we knew was we and our children deserved better, a better leadership, a better country, a truly God-blessed community of believers.

 And now we again find ourselves caught, like the Israelites, between corruption and evil and the wide, threatening sea of despair, uncertainty and dangers. Shall we, like the Israelites, unite together and obey in complete faith and trust, and venture into the uncertain future with only our faith to guide and lead us? Why not, God is with us and there is nothing impossible with the Lord our God.

And so it is that we are not yet where we should be. Like the Israelites, we have lost ourselves in the worship of the earthly. We have allowed those who play gods to rule this society. We have stared evil and corruption in the eye and have not done anything about these. Worse, we have even tolerated and in essence, accepted evil and corruption in favor of the good and the truth.

And so, like the Israelites, we need to go through a period of renewal, a period of cleansing, where we bring ourselves to the point of faith, of complete trust in the Lord. To get there, we first have to acknowledge what the Lord wants from us: To recognize and reject evil and to accept only what is good and truthful, to accept and follow only, no one else but God.

We still see ourselves as a divided nation. The religious, the students, the business sector, those in government, the farmers, the fisherfolk, the workers, the women, the children. All of us are still walking and acting about as a scattered people, a scattered nation.

God is merely waiting for us all to repent, to see Him clearly, and to stand up for God. Siding with God means siding with the truth, God’s truth, not men’s truth. Siding with God means rejecting evil, accepting that which is clearly and truly good and true.

Lent is with us and it is an appropriate time to be reminded about the need for us to walk in faith, to walk towards renewal as individuals, as a people, as a nation. The road to deliverance has been clearly shown to us by the Son of God Himself. That road to freedom is the same road of complete faith and obedience in God the Father who loves us best. The road to freedom is the road to and of the Lord our God.

 Are we all ready as individuals, as a people, as a nation, to walk towards renewal, to walk towards complete faith and hope and obedience, to walk for God and all that is good and true? God is waiting for us all to renew our hearts, to let go and let God!

After Egypt, the Red Sea, and then the desert. Deliverance is not a place, it is not just a change in structures and peoples. Deliverance means continuing living faith in each of our hearts, a faith that allows us to clearly recognize and reject evil and accept and follow only that which is good and of God.

Lent is a good time for our renewal and in time, our deliverance, as persons, as Filipinos, as true children of God.

*  *  *

Email: [email protected]