The Law of Stickiness

Daily Reading

Exodus 30-32

Daily Thought

The Hebrew people watched as God showered plagues of frogs and flies and fire, blood and boils and death. Ten plagues it took to convince the Pharaoh of Egypt to heed God’s repeated demand to “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 8, 20, 21; 9:1, 13; 10:4), but then Pharaoh changed his mind again and the Egyptian army pursued the Israelites and boxed them against the Red Sea. So God parted the sea and gave the Hebrew people an escape, then closed the sea and drowned the Egyptian army. This is the Exodus and it was amazing. It would make a great movie. The people of God had been delivered from slavery and were heading toward the Promised Land. It was the kind of thing you never forget. You would think. 

The people of Israel set about following Moses to their new home in the land God had promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. On the way, Moses climbed a mountain to receive God’s Law. Moses was temporarily unavailable and God was being slow. “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’” (Exodus 32:1). They forgot.

People have short memories, They are impatient and fickle. They were then and they are now. For example, a good web site designer knows the first law of the web, “The Law of Stickiness”: People are sticky, but they are not loyal. If they find a web site that serves their needs they stick with it, but the moment that site disappoints (by being slower than usual or temporarily unavailable), they move to the competition. The Law of God says, “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3); but the Law of Stickiness says God must improve his performance or we will make a golden calf.

The problem is, however, the golden calf is not really an alternative. “Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Deuteronomy 4:39). The Lord alone is God. There is no competition. And that means, you do not seek an alternative, you do not switch to a golden calf. You wait. If God is late (and God is always late), wait–“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope” (Psalm 130:5). God is often slow just so I will wait, so I will learn to wait. How much beauty I miss because I do not wait, because he makes all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:10), not mine. 

Daily Prayer

My Father in Heaven, how I trust in You. My confidence is in Your goodness and Your strength. My life is in Your care. I know that You offer life, life overflowing, abundant life.

May I always seek You first. May I always seek You only. Your kingdom with Your Son on the throne is my greatest hope. May I at all times maintain loyalty to You, keep faith in You, wait on You, trust in You. You are God.

Amen

Daily Question

What are ways you can remind yourself to wait in God when you are anxious to get something done?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *