The people of Israel were looked
after by the Lord. He provided them with water when they complained
and He provided them with food when they complained. He was very
patient with them, even though they complained and failed all the
tests He put in their path.
Now God led them to Rephidim and
there was no water there. And what did they do? Did they pray? No.
Did they ask Moses politely what they were going to do now? No.
They did what they did best, they complained again.
"Why did you ever take us out of
Egypt? Why did you bring us here? We, our children and our
livestock will all die!" Exodus 17:3
And this time their complaining
went so far that they even wanted to stone Moses! Shocking, but
true. They even wanted to stone Moses, the one who gave up his
livelihood in Midian and risked his life to come and rescue them
out of Egypt. Poor old Moses, he didn't have an easy time!
And what did Moses do? Did he run
to his friends and complained about his desperate situation? Did he
cry on Miriam's or Aaron's shoulder? Did he have a nervous
breakdown? No. He did the right thing. He pleaded with God to help
him in this seemingly hopeless situation. And God helped him in his
time of need and provided the water that the people were craving
for.
We must follow Moses' example as
well. We need to run to God first when we have problems or when we
need direction. We tend to do the opposite, we tend to tell all our
friends and get their opinions, then we tend to ask the help of our
spouses/family, we tend to post our needs on Facebook, we tend to
run to spiritual advisors to give us direction but only when our
situation gets desperate do we turn to God. Why do we do that? Why
is God last in line instead of first? Is it because we don't want
to make the effort to hear God's Voice? It is much easier to hear
the voice of our friend. Or are we afraid of what God's answer may
be or what He might ask us to do?
Whatever the reason, we must be
like Moses and not like the Israelites. We must turn to God when
problems creep up on us. Of course we can discuss it with friends,
family, spiritual mentors too, but they must never replace God. He
must be first in line. After all, He will have the correct solution
for you, as only He knows the end from the beginning and the
beginning from the end. Remember this, next time you want to ring a
friend first, God is patiently waiting for you to come to Him.
Thank you, thank you Lord that You
are always there. You are never out of town, You are never
unavailable, You are always there for us, praise Your Name! Forgive
us if we don't run to You first, and thank you that You are so
gracious and loving to always forgive us and to start over.
Amen