In this episode, God provides water for a thirsty people, but God uses people (Moses and some of the elders of Israel) to get the job done. Do you suppose God wants to use us in 2023 to do the things needed to make water plentiful and available? God’s plan to care for the creation often includes human instruments.
When I read this story, I am reminded of Isaiah 43:19 when God says that “I am about to do a new thing.” Getting water out of a rock? That certainly is a new thing! What new thing might God want to do in the twenty-first century? Would we accept the work of God if it is not “the way we’ve always done it”?
I wonder why God told Moses to leave the people behind when he went off to strike the rock (v. 5). Perhaps their quarreling and testing would have distracted Moses. Perhaps their fierce complaining would have kept Moses from doing what he needed to do. Maybe there is a clue here that sometimes leaders have to get a little ahead of the flock.
In Exodus 17:5, God tells Moses to use the same staff that Moses used to strike the Nile (See Exodus 7:20). Sometimes in our eagerness to find some new thing that will work, we disregard how God has worked in the past. Is there something we have learned from our previous experiences that will help us attack today’s issues?
Moses took along some of the elders of Israel and they saw what happened when Moses struck the rock. Water! It helps to have witnesses! Are there times when I have tried to “go it alone”? As Charles Wesley wrote (hymn 58, The United Methodist Hymnal), the faith journey is in a community context: “by saints below and saints above, the church is earth and heaven.”
Would Moses have done what he did to get water had not the people been yapping at him? [He even named the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarreling).] I do not mean to suggest that we ought to encourage the kind of anger expressed by the people, but I do think this occurrence reminds us that leaders need to listen to those whom they lead. As someone once said to me, “The view on the streets is sometimes better than the view from your office.”
Bottom line: God provided for God’s People. Amen and thank You!
What Someone Else Has Said: In Leaders Eat Last (Postfolio). Simon Sinek wrote: “(Being a leader) is about commitment to the well-being of those in our care...”
Prayer: As you prepare this lesson, let your prayer begin: “Use me, Lord...”
