Welcome to Tuesday and another edition of Tuesday's Musical Notes!!! Where music from all over the place meets thoughts, ideas, and realizations from only the best place! Like that favorite blanket in the winter, it's the blog that warms you all over...We think you're gonna like it here...
Today on Tuesday's Musical Notes we continue to explore the nuances and travails of wandering in the desert. Our intrepid heroes, the Israelites find their way up to the border of a land that is full of promise. The next step is to infiltrate the land and size up the enemy. So who ya gonna call? No, sorry, similar actor, wrong movie reference. Well you see, the Israelites send in a group of folks that aren't too different than we are. In fact, you might say they were...
"Spies Like Us" was released as a single by Paul McCartney (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Silly Love Songs" (Paul McCartney and Wings), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Band on the Run" (Paul McCartney and Wings), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Wonderful Christmastime" (Paul McCartney), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reggae" (Paul McCartney)). It was released apart from the movie's soundtrack album by Elmer Bernstein which featured only the instrumental score. "Spies Like Us" and the classic song, "Soul Finger" by the Bar-Kays, were not included on that soundtrack. (So, if you're looking for today's featured song, look for it as a single, or as a bonus track on McCartney and Wings' Venus and Mars album, hence that album cover rather than the cover from the soundtrack. And now you have...the rest of the story!)
"Spies Like Us", the song, peaked at #7 in the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1986. It would be McCartney's last top ten hits in the Us until 2015s "FourFiveSeconds". The single was buoyed by the 77 million box office take the movie had incurred and the popularity of McCartney and stars Dan Aykroyd (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "We Are the World" (USA for Africa)) and Chevy Chase (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "You Can Call Me Al" (Paul Simon)). Both actors would star alongside McCartney in the music video which featured clips from the movie and the iconic Abbey Roads Studios. Neither Aykroyd nor Chase, who have both participated in music ventures, played or sang on the song, which caused the video to be unplayable in the United Kingdom due to union regulations for musicians.
The premise of Spies Like Us (remember italics for movies, quotation signs for songs...check!) was simple. Get two bumbling government workers to act like spies while a real spy team carries out the "save the world" mission. Spies Like Us paid homage to the "Road" Movies of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Road to Morocco" (Bing Crosby and Bob Hope) "The Road Films: Bing Crosby and Bob Hope" from the 2014 PBS production American Masters: Discovering Bing Crosby). It also featured a plethora of cameos by some of the biggest names in Hollywood at the time, including "Road" veteran Bob Hope. Spies Like Us placed Donna Dixon, Dan Aykroyd's wife since 1983, in the lead female role. Strangely enough, Dixon played Chevy Chase's, not her husband's love interest in the movie...only in Hollywood. We won't spoil the rest for you, but let's just say that Tuesdays Musical Notes tends to disagree with most of the critics who panned the movie.
Assignment of spies to a mission tends to be a trending topic these days in Tuesday's Musical Notesland...
40 days after they had departed the slavery of Egypt, the nation of Israel found themselves on the precipice of going into the land God had covenanted with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. God had promised to drive out the inhabitants of the land and give it to the Israelites to make their homes. During these past 40 days, God had lived up to every promise He had made. The Israelites? Not so much. They began complaining about their situation soon after they left Egypt. They even went so far as to say out loud that they would have been better off as slaves. Their lack of confidence in the God who had decimated Egypt with the plagues and split the sea for them to pass through was disobedience defined. It seems easy to be critical of the Israelites, but if we were to be totally honest with ourselves, there are times we have treated God in the same fashion. God makes us a promise and when the going gets difficult we default to our "good ol" past. Oh, when things get tough...
And so we come to the outskirts of the land that flows with milk and honey. Hope is on the uptick and it seems that everything is going to be just as God promised, despite the disobedience, stubbornness, and blatant idolatry of the children of Israel.
One man from each tribe is chosen as a spy making 12 men who are to spy out the land of promise. They do exactly what they were told to do and bring back a report. Remember that God has already told them that the land is theirs, they just need to take it. God uses this opportunity to test the nation of Israel's fortitude and trust in Him. The spies told of a magnificent land and as evidence of the bounty even brought back a cluster of grapes that took two of them to carry.
Their story then turns to the inhabitants of the land. Some of which are descended from Anak, a people that seem to be giants to them. 10 of them begin the process of disheartening the Israelites and discouraging them in what God has already told them would be a success. Has that ever happened to you? I confess I've done similar things. In fact, I ran from God's calling on my life for over 20 years. He told me what He wanted me to do. I couldn't see the enormous grapes due to the giant excuses that I continued to make. God was faithful in bringing me to the realization that His plan would always be better and that I just needed to trust Him. Still a few tough times, yet no regrets in following God's plan for my life.
The other two spies, Caleb and Joshua, however, were resilient in their tenacity of taking the land. They were confident in who God was and the fact that He had already told them that they would be victorious.
And so a decision must be made. Take the land or not. But was it that simple? I've often said that at the heart of any "conversation" where a decision must be made between two parties, there are three sides to the story. Somewhere in the middle of the opposing sides is the truth, making up the third side. In this case, however, Caleb and Joshua's report is where God was residing and that is always where the truth will be. And yes, it was that simple. But alas and alack...or was that Anak?
The result of the report? As what happens so many times, the fear of the many outweighs the confidence of the few. They decided to once again, disobey God and not take the Promised Land. They once again retreated to the "good 'ol days" of their slavery instead of relying on the God-ordained new days that could be ahead for them. The people rebelled again. God is about to destroy them again. But Moses pleads with God on behalf of God's own name to not destroy the nation. Notice that he didn't ask God on behalf of the Israelites, but Moses was concerned about God's reputation. Are we ever that concerned about God's reputation in our actions? Moses entreaty is met by a God of mercy, grace, forgiveness...and yes, discipline.
There are always consequences to our decisions. In this case? The result of the rebellion? God promises that the generation of folks who are 20 and above will never set foot in the Promised Land. With the exception of the faithful Caleb and Joshua, God tells them that their disobedience and lack of confidence in His ability to fulfill His promises will result in their roaming around and dying in the wilderness. Their children will inherit the land.
God forgives. God disciplines by causing the 10 spies who reported against Him to die of a plague. The nation repents. But what happens next is nothing short of bewildering. They try to take the land anyway! God was no longer supporting their efforts and had told them what would happen yet, in their pride and arrogance, they decided they knew better than God...Again, mirror moment for me...how about you?
As believers, we should consider ourselves spies in this world. The Bible says this world is not our home. Philippians 3:17-21 NASB/AMP/KJV We have a promised land that awaits and as we read the Bible we spy out that land where we will ultimately abide. As we beg God to help us love as He loves, we rest in His promises about that land and confidently go about telling everyone we come in contact with of our destination.
Today's takeaway? Our plans may very well NOT be His plans.
Don't play every minute by ear...
Don't get there by hook or by crook.
Do all the things in His book.
God has a plan. His plan is always for your good even when we have been prideful and stubborn... God continues to prove this throughout the Bible. One of the best passages to demonstrate this is another instance when God is dealing with Israel. We must be careful to not take this Scripture out of context, especially when we use it as an example for our lives. Jeremiah 29:10-14 NASB/AMP/KJV
We must realize that sometimes God's truth resides with one party or the other. On occasion, that party will be the one in the minority. But we can rest in His plan, execute it His way, and carry it out through His strength. The alternative is not seeing His promises...
Remember...while there are usually 3 sides to every story our goal is to discover the truth that always resides where God is. We can discover that truth every time if we will have confidence in the One who provides our strength and wisdom as He provides the plan.
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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