Jungle Safari - Deuteronomy 4:21-31

Professor Porter and his daughter Jane are on a safari in the jungles of Africa, let by wildlife hunter Clayton.  The professor and his daughter are searching for gorillas and other native wildlife and fauna, wanting to study them in their native surroundings.  Clayton, on the other hand, has ulterior motives, concerned not with all of creation surrounding him, but with the challenge of the hunt and the amount of wealth any findings could bring him.  Little did they know the surprise waiting for them on their safari—not only would they find the gorillas and other animals of the jungle, but they would discover a child lost decades earlier, now grown into a man, Tarzan—ironically, referred to by Phil Collins in song, as the “Son of Man.”

The Israelites were not searching for gorillas.  In fact they were not even on a safari or in the jungle.  They were in the wilderness—a wilderness marked more by desert sand and sun than by the shade of large overhanging trees and the soft moss of the jungle floor.  They had done their searching for God.  As slaves in Egypt they had cried out, “where is God?”  They saw him in the plagues.  Freed from the Pharaoh, but pursued by his armies they had cried out, “where is God?”  They saw him in the parting of the Sea.  Hungering and thirsting they had cried out, “where is God?”  They saw him in the water, the manna, the quail.  Moses had ascended Mount Sinai to talk with God, they cried out, “Where is God?” And rather than wait for Moses’ return, Aaron created them a god, pouring golden calves out of their collected gold.  After destroying those calves and leading them back to discovering God through the Law, they continued their journey.  Yet they would continue to search for gods that were not God, including, as Moses references in our reading, when through intimate relationships with folks from Moab found themselves involved in worshipping the false god Baal.

Now after years of wandering through the wilderness, after earlier failing to trust that God was greater enough to deliver them land that He had promised, they found themselves poised to enter the Promised Land.  Moses stands to address them, as his frustration and display of anger because of their sin, was keeping him from crossing the Jordan with them.  Moses reminds them that it is their fault that he won’t be going with them.  He says, “As you go into the land, the good rich land, don’t forget about God and how He has brought you to this place.  When you start looking for God to worship, don’t make idols, don’t worship the things of this world that you can create and manipulate, for when you do, you will find God allowing you and your descendants to be separated and scattered.  Remember God…remain faithful to God…and when you want to know where God is, when you are seeking God, search for Him.

So this week as our kids gather for Vacation Bible School they will be going on a safari trying to discover the nature of God. Next week some of the children and I will share with y'all just what they've discovered.  Today, though, before getting to the nature of God, we need to consider simply searching for God.  God's people have always had times in their lives where they felt like they needed to search for Him, sometimes successfully, other times looking in all the wrong places, and sometimes they found God even when they weren't looking.

From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of the New Jerusalem, God’s people search for Him.  Adam and Eve didn’t have to look, they encountered God walking with them in the Garden each evening.  Moses was not even actively searching for God when he encountered God in the burning bush.  Samuel encountered God as the one calling out his name as he lay in the temple, in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant.  Elijah sought God at Mount Horeb in a windstorm, in an earthquake, and in a fire, before actually discovering Him in the silence.  The Psalmist felt like God had deserted him, crying out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me,” before realizing that God was there with him in the midst of his struggles, embracing him in the midst of the gathered people of God.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and much later John, encountered God in visions and dreams. 

When have we have we been on that safari?  When have we search for the presence of God?  I think that sometimes we take it for granted.  Sometimes we don’t think about whether God is around.  We don’t readily think about God’s presence in our lives.  Then, like the Hebrew folks enslaved in Egypt, we find ourselves, our loved ones, or others in dire circumstances and begin to question where God is in the midst of it all.  I remember several times following September 11, 1991, the number of folks saying, where was God in the wake of those attacks, where was God in the midst of those attacks?  I remember following Hurricane Isabel in 2003, as homes, lives, and livelihood were devastated, folks questioning the presence of God in the midst of and wake of the storm.  I have been with friends and family members as they dealt with a loved one’s suicide or battle with a terminal illness as they questioned where our merciful God was to be found.  In my battle with depression, I have been there, more than once. 

Moses told the Hebrew people that when the desperate times came upon them that they would be able to find God if they would search for him with all their heart and soul.  Searching for God with all our heart and soul, with every ounce of our entire being, is the key in finding God in the midst of our dark times.  Too often our failed attempts and finding God at those times is because our attempts are not whole-hearted, but half-hearted.  I speak from experience.  One of my darkest times where I thought I was seeking God and failed to find him, I look back in retrospect and realize that God was there all along.  God was the one supporting me and sustaining me and protecting me when I was so caught up in myself and my problems, looking more at them, than I was looking at God—staring at Goliath instead of searching for the confidence in God, fearing the waves, rather than keeping my eyes upon Jesus who was there, beckoning me to walk to Him and with Him through the storm.  I remember reading a story after Hurricane Isabel of a guy standing on the front porch of his home after Hurricane Isabel, surveying the damage of his property stating (and I am paraphrasing as it has been twelve years) that “It’s too late God, don’t bother showing up now.”  He was so focused on the damage and not on searching for God with all his heart and soul, that he failed to realize God’s presence with him was what allowed him to be standing on his front porch greeted by the sunrise over the fallen trees.  And as for 9/11, I will never forget the picture that someone posted following the attacks in response to those who questioned where God was—a picture of Jesus with open arms welcoming, receiving each one who died, with tears running down His face for them and for those who refused to turn from their sin and, exercising their gift of free will, committed the horrendous act.  And when we really begin searching for God with all our heart and soul in those desperate times, we see God appear in amazing places.  We see him appear in the sound of chain saws as volunteers gather to help remove storm debris.  We see God appear in rescue workers scouring through fallen buildings looking for survivors.  We see God appear in those who come along side us and sit with us and serve us as we or our loved ones struggle.  We see Him in the care of a nurse, or the compassionate eyes of a Hospice caregiver.

It is when we truly begin looking and searching for God with all our heart and soul that we will find that He is always here with us.  We find that just as He ripped the veil between eternity and our world and stepped into our flesh as the Son of God became a son of man in the person of Jesus Christ and made Himself visible for those who were searching for Him, He continues to touch our lives—in a powerful presence felt in prayer, through words read or heard in Scripture, through dreams and visions, and just as he did through the flesh of Jesus,  we find God still with us through the flesh of a family member, a friend, a brother or sister in Christ.

My friends, my brothers and sisters, as we safari, not through the jungles of Africa, but through the wilderness of every day, let us truly seek God with all our heart and soul, and find that He is still with us.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.