WTB 1 - It Seemed Like a Good Idea

From recent writings from Deuteronomy, a glimpse at Chapter 1, verse 23.

There have been many situations in my life that have left me a bit perplexed in just how I got to that place. While there's very rarely a simple, single factor, it's not unusual for me to be able to pinpoint  the critical juncture for everything that followed. In retrospect, I can shake my head at the folly - information I didn't have or had discounted, assumptions about necessary factors, the reliance on emotion and what felt right rather than rational and objective reasoning... And in that moment of analysis, all I can say is, "it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Which is why I was so amused and, yes, heartened to come across the kernel of this phrase in Moses' great retelling of Israel's sojourn up to the point of reaching the Jordan. That's what Deuteronomy basically is: the action-packed, emotionally-charged memoir of a people and it's divinely-guided leader over 40 years that would be the basis for the next 3,500.

In regards to the suggestion made to Moses by the tribes to send out a reconnaissance team to the land GOD had set apart for them, Deuteronomy 1:23 says,

"It seemed like a good idea, so I chose twelve men, one from each tribe."  (CEV, though several other translations use the same phrase)

Within a couple verses, we are reminded just how badly that went with most of the recon team being certain it would be too dangerous, demoralizing the Nation, and incurring the wrath of GOD. Two particular long-term results came about; the Nation, instead of going directly to their new digs, spent the next 40 years circling a mountain a few days' walk away, learning what it is to be God's chosen and giving time for the untrusting generation to die out. The other is that, as a direct result of the unending wandering and incessant whining, in a moment of frustration, Moses doesn't follow GOD's instructions to the 'T', and loses his own ticket into the Promised Land.


Moses is one of my favorite Bible heroes. He had a humility to which I can only aspire. He repeatedly showed a compassion for those he was stewarding that outdoes the patience of any mother for her tantrum-throwing toddler. And I'm more than a little bit awed by his physical stamina and ability to work with any situation. But he was also profoundly human. He regularly had conversations with GOD and by his own accounts, he was frequently complaining about and asking for relief from his stubborn charges. He was phenomenal, but also irritable, moody, and not above bringing up grudges and finger-pointing. Sometimes I think he also wasn't particularly gracious about accepting his own responsibility for negative outcomes.

Moses was and is revered; and rightly so. What an amazing tool he allowed himself to be during a critical time in the history of GOD revealing Himself to us. It would be easy to look at him and in comparison, determine that I will never have any value in serving GOD's purpose; I will never be Moses' equal.

But then, I read Moses' memoir of one of his critical decisions and he says something so akin to my own explanations for things past. And I'm heartened that while there are oceans of difference between Moses and I, perhaps I am still useful, too. Most importantly for me, when I look at how this all still fit GOD's plan, I begin to think that all those decisions I made while not in relationship with GOD may still turn out to be useful to His overall purpose.

I feel a certain kinship as I picture Moses standing at his lookout point, exhausted from years of leading an often ungrateful-people until their children can claim the land he once aspired to, thinking to himself,

"it seemed like a good idea to me...at the time"

and suddenly I can relate with a new-found hope that, within our shared sentiment, even my story may still be used for good.