An Ancient Affliction

We have been doing a series at church on our movement from slavery to freedom, and since this has been a “hot” topic of mine for quite some time, I had another revelation (or should I say a reminder of an “old” thought?). Allow me to qualify this as the following is not my attempt to “psychologize” the Bible in any way. Yet, there are many things about the ancient Israelites that reminds me of the affliction that I have struggled with for a long time, and I’m sure there are many who do as well (hopefully I”m not that unusual! — no comments out there!). Also, I would remind you that God has given us the capacity to discover the world around us including ourselves and our typical ways of growing, developing, and perceiving the world around us. Therefore I would simply make the observation and conclusion that this affliction is an ancient one, and impairs and impedes my relationship with God and has done so for many years. This affliction is that of … spiritual object permanence. I know that sounds very psychologist of me, but let me explain.

Object permanence is part of the developmental process for everyone, and shows itself most dramatically in young kids who experience separation anxiety. The basics are this: at one point in children’s development they are unable to understand that if a treasured toy were hidden behind a curtain or drape that it still existed, they just couldn’t see it. This is demonstrated by the fact that often the kids who experience this start to cry because their toy is “gone.” As they continue to mature cognitively in understanding how the world works, they begin to also understand that when a person hides their toy behind a curtain, all they have to do is pull the curtain back to reveal the toy. They realize that the toy exists even if they can’t see it — object permanence.

Another example of this is something we refer to as a “transitional object.” If your kids have ever had a blanket, or a favorite toy with which they sleep, you have just given your kids a transitional

object. From what is it transitioning them? It is allowing them to go from depending on their parents to put them to sleep, to using this transitional object to be a stand-in for the parent and transitions them to putting themselves asleep. It is one small or major (depending on the kid) movement from dependency to independence. Learning to care for one’s own needs versus looking to others to care for our needs. Therefore, when then get anxious, sad, or whatever other emotion that is beyond them, they go to this object to comfort them and regain some measure of self-control. So, if they’re mad, they go to this object and poke its eyes out instead of poking the eyes out of their siblings. If they’re afraid or anxious, they hang on for dear life to give them the comfort they need to overcome the anxiety or fear. Can the object actually do anything to remove the fear or anxiety? No, of course not. What it does do is stand-in for someone or something that has in the past. This particular example of object permanence (which it technically isn’t but it’s close enough for my purposes here) is especially poignant in terms of what we will see in the Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

What is interesting to take note of is that this object permanence also shows up in our spiritual development as well, and this is where this becomes an “ancient” affliction. It has afflicted mankind all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Of course, Adam and Eve had no need of developing object (the object here being God) permanence because He walked and talked with them in the garden. The moment that Adam and Eve succumbed to the lies of Satan and sin became a permanent, terminal spiritual condition of man, men struggled throughout history with this spiritual object permanence.

Now, let me use one Biblical illustration of this, and one personal one. First, allow me to start with the Biblical illustration. What we were looking at last night was when the Israelites were encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses has already ascended the mountain to receive the ten commandments, and all the other laws that set forth how to live as a society and community of people. At this point point, let me take a short bunny trail to put this in context. Remember, these people had been slaves all their lives. They didn’t know anything about living together other than what they saw in Egyptian culture. It’s one thing to observe culture, it’s entirely another thing to become a society that is knit together by the culture that sets it apart from all the others. Therefore, God went out of His way to be as specific as He could so that they would have the foundational principles of becoming a community of people. Okay… bunny trail ended.

So, Moses is gone, and slowly the realization begins to grow in the Israelites that because he was gone, he was not coming back, and their anger begins to grow at “this man Moses.” (Ex. 32:1) He’s not only gone, he has abandoned them when they needed him most just when things were most bleak at the foot of a mountain in a wilderness. Moses, like kids’ parents when they leave them in children’s ministries, not only went away but was as good as gone forever. So, the Israelites begin to growl, cry, and wail because they had been abandoned. Now, notice what they do next. They go to Aaron, surround him, and demand a substitute god, or a “transitional object.”

Now before you get too harsh with the Israelites, just remember that these folks had never had much experience with caring for their own needs. This is where slavery is so comfortable and convenient. Their masters did that for them. It may not have been a fun, or “comfortable” plight to be in, but they were valuable to their masters for the work they could do for their taskmasters. Therefore, it behooved their masters for provide the basics for them — food, water, and a some measure of safety and shelter. It wasn’t because they were worthy of such treatment, it was simply caring for their property like we would do in washing our cars.

Back to our story… What has always caught my attention in this passage is the question, why didn’t Aaron oppose their efforts and remind them of God’s faithfulness up to that point in their journey? Perhaps, he too, was feeling much like they were so he acquiesced to their demands and crafted a golden calf (an idol and an object they could touch and experience) as a “stand-in” god. After all a god of my making is far more controllable and conforming to my demands than a God who loves me so much that He will do what I need not what I might capriciously want any given moment in my day. So, the calf is an object that made it appear that god was near when they didn’t feel that he was. The emphasis here is on our feelings of abandonment. At that moment of experiencing those feelings, they/we/I honestly believe something that just isn’t trye – God has abandoned me and he really isn’t who He says He is. This is where two “kinds” of truth war with one another. The big “T” truth is that God is good, trustworthy, and loving and would never abandon me; the small “t” truth is that I feel abandoned and lost and God is responsible. In this example, the Israelites feelings of abandonment veer them away from the truth that God is still with them in spite of the fact that they don’t feel that way.

Now for the personal story… I know this process and state so well because it has been a lurking shadow for most of my life. In my deepest moments of depression and despair, I have been just like the Israelites. The big “T” truth of God’s love, steadfast mercy and grace, and presence with me just didn’t matter. All I knew was that I was “alone” and God had “set his jaw” against me. I was living in nothing but the small “t” realities of my existence at that time. With that as the backdrop, I was in a hole that there was no getting out. Yet, there was a way out that had presented itself in the form of the people around me, and a renewed vision of who God was that took me completely by surprise. In some respects, that what it seems to take. We can seem to build quite a fortress that protects our little devices of control which is what such transitional objects (can you say idols of our own?) are, or our variety of strategies to not feel the pain that we have meticulously developed and cultivated. It’s a little like the character in the Count of Monte Cristo who says, “If you ever loved me, don’t rob me of my hate. It’s all I have.”

In a another chapter of this struggle, I’m reminded again of the Count of Monte Cristo where Edmond Dantes(the Count) has this interchange with the old priest who breaks into his cell, and in so doing provides him with renewed hope and purpose:
“Abbe Faria: Here is your final lesson – do not commit the crime for which you now serve the sentence. God said, “Vengeance is mine.”
Edmond Dantes: I don’t believe in God.
Abbe Faria: It doesn’t matter. He believes in you.

The real rub of these illustrations and stories, at least in my mind, is: How do we come alongside others who are stuck in such places? The key lies in how we handle the big “T” truth and how we respond to the small “t” truths of their reality and existence. Often, when we are confronted with people who are stuck in such a hole, our tendency is to spout off the big “T” truths in order to get them to come to their senses, accept the truth, and move in another direction. Often our thinking displays our disdain or indifference to the small “t” realities in which they live. What we must do is find a way to journey with them in their small “t” realities, and in due time we might have opportunities to offer up the big “T” truth of God’s love, mercy, and faithfulness. It’s important to remember as one who was in that hole, you might be speaking more big “T” truth to a wanderer as I was just by journeying with me than if you were to articulate the most profound truths of God!