Day 18 - Testing or Resting

Today's readings come from Exodus 17:1-17, and Psalm 95.

The two readings go together. The Psalmist in Psalm 95:7-9 (NIV), says...
7 ... Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did.

Exodus 17 gives us awareness of what he's talking about. Exodus 17:1 (NIV)
1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

The children of Israel are in the desert, only recently having left Egypt through a powerful display of God in parting the Red Sea so they could walk through it on dry land, no less. Yet, here, things were not one of "look what God just did for us", but rather...in Exodus 17:3 (NIV)
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"

What follows is the first of two incidents in the desert where God brought forth water from the rock...Exodus 17:5-7 (NIV)
5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

Massah means "to test", and Meribah means "to quarrel". The fact was, God was with them, but they did not recognize, nor believe it. The test was in believing that God would truly care for them in the desert...that he did not lead them out of Egypt just to abandon them in the desert.

The psalmist says there's an alternative. Psalm 95:8-11 (NASB)
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9 "When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.
10 "For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.
11 "Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest."


So, here's the choice: Test or Rest. To test is the maintain the posture of God owes me. To rest is to trust in God who promises he will never leave us, or forsake us, and who says, "trust in me" and I will give you rest...a place of peace, security, freedom and confidence. It's not always easy to do. We can easily succumb to the culture of whining and complaining...finances, health, politicians, family, church, friends even. Yet when we do, we miss the grace that is ours because God is with us. He knows our needs even before ourselves. He is our peace.

Peace

If you're reading along in the Bible-in-a-year with me, read 1 Samuel 13 & 14.