For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness when your fathers put Me to the test, and put Me to the proof, though they had seen My work. (Verses 7-9)
There were so many Israelites wandering in the desert that they had to move in stages from one place to the other. Large groups, designated by tribes, picked up their belongings and left the wilderness of Sin behind. Such an interesting name. Sin. Wandering around in it then finally able to move on. It was there the people cried out, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt, when we sat by our meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!" Slavery was looking pretty good to the multitude that hungered in Sin. Though freed from the oppression of bondage, the Israelites were still slaves in their hearts. Remembered the food they ate, the aroma of the crusty leavened bread and the hearty aroma of stew. Eaten in the prison Egypt was to them. They'd forgotten about making those bricks without straw. The babies killed by the Pharaoh to keep their numbers from growing. Could only think about their bellies. The wilderness of Sin showed what was in their hearts despite the fact they'd seen the plagues and walked through the Red Sea's dry bed while Pharaoh's army drowned behind them. It would seem like they'd remember those miracles. Trust once again in the One Who delivered them. After all, it was God's idea to bring them out in the first place. He did everything for them to make their deliverance possible. But instead of supplication in the Sin desert, they thought to accuse God of abandonment. So He provided manna. What is it? from heaven. Every day. Enough for each man, woman and child's daily nourishment.
So why in their next stop, Rephidim, were they so irked when water was in short supply? "Oh, great, Moses! Now you bring us to this place where we don't have anything to drink! You'll kill us, our kids and our livestock with thirst!" They were ready to pick up stones and kill Moses over this problem. Again the first response of the Jewish nation wasn't to humbly ask the magnificent God Who'd moved heaven and earth to free them. No. Grumble and complain. It worked last time. Manna was the result. It wasn't stew with leeks and onions, but, hey, it was food!
"What shall I do with these people," cried Moses to his God. "They are ready to kill me!"
"Take the elders and the stick with which you struck the Nile, turning it to blood, and go to the rock at Horeb. I will stand there before you on the rock. Strike the rock and water will come out of it." God's directive.
God was on that rock when Moses struck it. In hitting the rock at Horeb, Moses necessarily struck His God, the Source of life-giving water. For probably a million people. From a stone. A picture that should have been as indelibly printed in their minds as the Nile, the Red Sea, the plagues and the Passover. With the shepherd's staff that had become a weapon of God's desire to deliver His people, Moses made the Nile turn to blood. Now the weapon strikes the Rock on which God stands in order for water to gush in miraculous abundance in counter intuitive provision. No oasis. No natural spring. No. A rock. So there can't be any doubt the Source was God. The place became known as Massah and Meribah--Testing and Quarreling. The sheep the Great Shepherd led through the wilderness didn't have ears to hear His voice. Nor eyes to see and understand. Such great and mighty deeds as God did for this nation are the stuff of fables and myths. Too grand to think they could actually have happened. But for them, His people, He did the impossible. Led them by day with in a cloud and by night with a pillar of fire. Moved in a holy fog over the tent of meeting and dwelt in shakina glory in the holy of holies. Shook mountains and parted seas. And it wasn't enough for them to trust His Presence and goodness. No long or short term memory, it seems.
We still follow the same Shepherd. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. But some of us still forget how miraculous it is to know our Great God! What a gift it is to be a lamb in His hand. It was His idea from the beginning to take care of us--lead us to Himself. Why then do we doubt He'll come through when it looks like we've arrived at a dead end? That's when we can expect the miraculous. How our God must delight in bringing about an unexpected provision for His sheep in their desert! How joyful our Shepherd must be when, instead of Baa-ing our dissatisfaction with the way things are going, we nuzzle His leg and trust. When we remember how far we've come. When we believe we are on the right path even though we don't know exactly where we'll end up. That means we must learn to trust that our God is good. That was what hurt the heart of the Shepherd in the wilderness at Meribah and Massah--testing Him to see if He'd be good enough to take care of them when they were hungry and thirsty. So He Himself stood on a rock in the middle of a dusty, arid wilderness and let Moses strike Him there. "I will be your Source, even if it costs me something," He declared in positioning Himself there. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10
Today, if you hear His voice, listen, little sheep. There is water for you from the Rock.
There were so many Israelites wandering in the desert that they had to move in stages from one place to the other. Large groups, designated by tribes, picked up their belongings and left the wilderness of Sin behind. Such an interesting name. Sin. Wandering around in it then finally able to move on. It was there the people cried out, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt, when we sat by our meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!" Slavery was looking pretty good to the multitude that hungered in Sin. Though freed from the oppression of bondage, the Israelites were still slaves in their hearts. Remembered the food they ate, the aroma of the crusty leavened bread and the hearty aroma of stew. Eaten in the prison Egypt was to them. They'd forgotten about making those bricks without straw. The babies killed by the Pharaoh to keep their numbers from growing. Could only think about their bellies. The wilderness of Sin showed what was in their hearts despite the fact they'd seen the plagues and walked through the Red Sea's dry bed while Pharaoh's army drowned behind them. It would seem like they'd remember those miracles. Trust once again in the One Who delivered them. After all, it was God's idea to bring them out in the first place. He did everything for them to make their deliverance possible. But instead of supplication in the Sin desert, they thought to accuse God of abandonment. So He provided manna. What is it? from heaven. Every day. Enough for each man, woman and child's daily nourishment.
So why in their next stop, Rephidim, were they so irked when water was in short supply? "Oh, great, Moses! Now you bring us to this place where we don't have anything to drink! You'll kill us, our kids and our livestock with thirst!" They were ready to pick up stones and kill Moses over this problem. Again the first response of the Jewish nation wasn't to humbly ask the magnificent God Who'd moved heaven and earth to free them. No. Grumble and complain. It worked last time. Manna was the result. It wasn't stew with leeks and onions, but, hey, it was food!
"What shall I do with these people," cried Moses to his God. "They are ready to kill me!"
"Take the elders and the stick with which you struck the Nile, turning it to blood, and go to the rock at Horeb. I will stand there before you on the rock. Strike the rock and water will come out of it." God's directive.
God was on that rock when Moses struck it. In hitting the rock at Horeb, Moses necessarily struck His God, the Source of life-giving water. For probably a million people. From a stone. A picture that should have been as indelibly printed in their minds as the Nile, the Red Sea, the plagues and the Passover. With the shepherd's staff that had become a weapon of God's desire to deliver His people, Moses made the Nile turn to blood. Now the weapon strikes the Rock on which God stands in order for water to gush in miraculous abundance in counter intuitive provision. No oasis. No natural spring. No. A rock. So there can't be any doubt the Source was God. The place became known as Massah and Meribah--Testing and Quarreling. The sheep the Great Shepherd led through the wilderness didn't have ears to hear His voice. Nor eyes to see and understand. Such great and mighty deeds as God did for this nation are the stuff of fables and myths. Too grand to think they could actually have happened. But for them, His people, He did the impossible. Led them by day with in a cloud and by night with a pillar of fire. Moved in a holy fog over the tent of meeting and dwelt in shakina glory in the holy of holies. Shook mountains and parted seas. And it wasn't enough for them to trust His Presence and goodness. No long or short term memory, it seems.
We still follow the same Shepherd. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. But some of us still forget how miraculous it is to know our Great God! What a gift it is to be a lamb in His hand. It was His idea from the beginning to take care of us--lead us to Himself. Why then do we doubt He'll come through when it looks like we've arrived at a dead end? That's when we can expect the miraculous. How our God must delight in bringing about an unexpected provision for His sheep in their desert! How joyful our Shepherd must be when, instead of Baa-ing our dissatisfaction with the way things are going, we nuzzle His leg and trust. When we remember how far we've come. When we believe we are on the right path even though we don't know exactly where we'll end up. That means we must learn to trust that our God is good. That was what hurt the heart of the Shepherd in the wilderness at Meribah and Massah--testing Him to see if He'd be good enough to take care of them when they were hungry and thirsty. So He Himself stood on a rock in the middle of a dusty, arid wilderness and let Moses strike Him there. "I will be your Source, even if it costs me something," He declared in positioning Himself there. For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10
Today, if you hear His voice, listen, little sheep. There is water for you from the Rock.
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