photo by Herzi Pinki (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The day after last week’s presidential debate I went to the Internet, curious to read people’s responses to it. On Twitter I found that the back-and-forth over which candidate is a puppet had spawned a flurry of tweets with the hashtag #GotNoStrings. While I understand the desire not to be thought of as a puppet, there’s Biblical wisdom in acknowledging, “I’ve got some strings on me.”
I find fascinating the books of Exodus through Joshua. They tell the story of God’s people from their escape from slavery in Egypt through settling the land of modern-day Israel. In between those events come books of legal code specifying rules for everything from religious rituals to economic transactions. The stories and legal code bear witness to God trying to shape the character of a new nation, and it’s clear they’ve got some strings.
Near the end of the book of Joshua, Joshua gathers the people together, recounts their history and God’s role in it, and then says:
Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:14-15
Joshua takes for granted that he and the people he leads are puppets of a sort. They willserve some god. They’ll either serve old gods, new gods, or the one God. The freedom they have is not to choose if they’ll be a puppet but to choose who’s pulling their strings.
What gods pull your strings? I have strings binding and pulling me to a need for approval and a desire to be seen as smart by others. Those aren’t good. I also have strings that bind me to family, friends, church, and community. They pull me in various directions and mostly – but not always – to the good. Joshua’s words remind me to acknowledge my puppet-like nature and to address it.
God, make me aware of the strings that bind me to false gods. Help me to choose to serve you and you alone, to commitment first and only to you and to let all other commitments flow from that one. Amen.
In Christ,
Rich
#GotSomeStrings
Rich Rindfuss
Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson