Exodus 17:1-7
Life is a journey where we will discover the sufficiency of God when we learn
to trust Him. However, we would be naïve to believe that our faith will go
untested on the journey. God’s people and God’s leaders both have lessons to
learn on the journey which cannot be fully understood except through times of
uncertainty and delayed provisions. The journey of faith is just that . . . a journey
of faith, not sight.
The presence of God in the circumstances of our lives gives us comfort and courage.
But difficult circumstances affect the way we practice the presence of God?
Difficult days may find us wondering whether God is nearby. In difficult days,
our faith may fade and our reasoning may be rattled. Are we to believe that
God has moved or changed?
The journey of Israel through the wilderness to the land of promise was filled
with many teaching moments. Moses and the children of Israel had much to learn
about God and themselves in their journey. Our journey with God also will teach
us much about God and ourselves. May we discover that He is always near regardless
of the declarations from immediate circumstances.
DOUBTS
OFTEN ARISE FROM FALSE EXPECTATIONS — V.1-3
The people began to thirst for water in the wilderness and when their thirst
was not immediately satisfied, they began to complain. Where is God, they wondered?
It did not matter that God had been their provider in the past. Their deliverance
from the tyranny of the Egyptians had faded from their memory. The past supply
of bread from heaven had eluded their reasoning. The lack of immediate gratification
created a stir in their hearts that mixed in more doubt than faith. In their
doubts, they not only questioned the motives of God and Moses, but also assumed
that they and their children and livestock were destined to die of thirst.
Doubts often cause us to fear the worst. Our imaginations run wild and we journey
in our minds to places where God never intended for us to be. God isn’t near
us. God doesn’t care. God intends us harm. We lose perspective of who God
is and where God is. Israel forgot the very purpose for which God had brought
them out of Egypt. Let us be careful lest doubts veil the purposes, promises,
and provisions of God in our lives.
DOUBTING
FOLLOWERS MAY BREED DOUBTS IN GOD’S LEADERS — v. 4
It
may be easy to be in a position as a leader when followers are content, but
to lead
when
there is fear and discontentment reveals the measure of leadership. Even God’s