The Israelites Didn T Lift a Finger, They Just Complained. It Seems to Me That We Re Guilty

The Israelites Didn T Lift a Finger, They Just Complained. It Seems to Me That We Re Guilty

The Israelites didn’t lift a finger, they just complained. It seems to me that we’re guilty of this today as well, in many aspects of life. We often look to someone in a leadership position, in the government for example, or in this case, Moses, and complain about what’s happening, rather than taking it into our own hands and doing something about it.

Now, that being said, the Israelites likely had done all that they thought was in their power. They were probably pretty exhausted, and didn’t feel like they could extend themselves much further to look for water. Sometimes it gets to a point where we feel all dried up, often emotionally or spiritually, and we feel like we can’t go on or can’t continue to try new things. And yet they had had some pretty impressive things happening, like passing through the Red Sea and being given manna from heaven.

It also escalated pretty quickly. It went from “Give us water to drink,” basically because we’re thirsty, to blaming Moses for being part of a murder plot for all of the Israelites and their livestock, bringing them out of Egypt simply to make them die of thirst. It seems to me that, when we’re in the midst of a difficult time, we’re often not logical. If the Israelites were being logical, they would have realized that all of the things they had just gone through would have been a lot of effort, a pretty elaborate murder plot on Moses’ part. He could have (much more easily) just left them in Egypt.

But we don’t always think logically, especially when things are difficult for us. And, realistically, what the Israelites were voicing was a deeper fear. It goes beyond the physical need, to a spiritual one. And this is quoted at the end of today’s passage, when they question “Is the Lord among us or not?”

(pause)

“Is the Lord among us or not?” These words are pretty strongly echoed in our world today: “Is the Lord among us or not?”. There are many people who would say a resounding “No!” to that question. There are people who would be more wishy-washy on that answer, sticking with a “Maybe yes, maybe no” kind of answer. And then, there are the fewer voices that would answer yes. Those who have experienced God in their lives, and know that God is among us always.

Often, what we want, and even almost expect, is “proof” of God acting in the world around us. We almost are looking for some sort of “magic” to be done, a miracle, Jesus’ face in a piece of toast, something that proves that God is more than the everyday miracles we experience. In the story of the Israelites, it’s almost like Moses has a magic wand, one that parts the seas, and then that taps a rock and makes water come out of it. How could you not believe when presented with such obvious proof?

The problem with this is that it suggests that if we don’t experience these kinds of miracles, maybe God isn’t actually with us. But God is in it all. The miracles and the everyday things.

When you’re in your deepest depths of despair, it can be truly difficult, if not almost impossible, to see God among us in the world. The rainbow glowing in the sky above you, which for one person might be a sign of God’s love and presence, for another person just seems like the natural thing to happen after a rainfall. It’s all about how we interpret things, and sometimes those things can be harder to see in the difficult times. I know, in my life, I’ve had times where people have said just the right thing at just the right time, or given me a perfectly-timed hug, and, to me, it was a sign from God, a response to my prayer. Other times, those same things might come across as regular conversation, or a simple hug. One person’s “miracle” is another person’s boring, daily event.

Thinking of signs and miracles always makes me think of a quote from one of my favourite TV shows, “Joan of Arcadia”. The idea of the show is that Joan, a high school student, starts being spoken to by God, who comes to her in many different faces, in order for Joan to complete missions to better the world and bring forth God’s kingdom. Talk about signs from God, and being used to do God’s will! Anyway, the first time Joan encounters God, she’s (naturally) pretty skeptical. She asks for proof, and they have a conversation that goes a little like this:

Joan: Let's see a miracle.

God: How about that? (pointing to a tree)
Joan: It's a tree.

God: Let's see you make one.

We can spend so much of our time looking for miraculous, if not almost magic, events in our world, and doubting God’s presence even when we find it. We have such a scientific, explanation-based sense of the world. We want clear, undeniable answers to everything. I’m not saying, by any means, that I’m opposed to science, or that I don’t believe in science and its amazing insight. But I think that our reliance on science, technology, and the scientific method has taken away our ability to see some things as the awe-inspiring, God-based things they are. Science can explain to us what a tree is made of, and what’s needed to make it grow, but it doesn’t give us the ability to grow that tree from nothing.

As humans, we’re pretty needy. A lot of these needs are genuine, like basic human needs of food and water. Once these needs are met, it isn’t long before we jump into other needs. I’m sure once the Israelites’ physical needs for food and water were met, they’d go for the “tired” angle. Which, would be pretty fair, since we’re told they were walking for forty years. But, if they did get a chance to stop and take a break, I can just picture them chiming in with things like “I’m boooooored” or “Moses, are we theeeeeere yet?” It seems that humans almost always need something to complain about.

And we often extend that into our spiritual lives. We seem to want God to fit God’s self into our lives, our time-frame, our image of what God should be, the little God-shaped box we’ve made for our lives. As the Rev. Sarah Jackson Shelton put it, “if God is all God is cracked up to be, what's my little problem to the One who has made the heavens and the earth? So we bring our desires and say, ‘Here's the situation, God; You solve it. And solve it before tomorrow, would You?’”

And often, if the results aren’t immediate, or don’t happen in the amount of time we think they should, we question our faith. We question if maybe our faith isn’t strong enough. Or maybe if our prayers weren’t good enough. Or maybe if God even heard them. When a loved one dies, or when there’s been a bad health diagnosis, or when we don’t get the job we needed to feed the family, we sometimes wonder where God is in the midst of that.

Yet God is with us, even if the “quick fixes” don’t happen, or don’t happen the way we’d expect. God is present with us, in all of our challenges. Suffering is a reality, and often not something we can avoid. There’s often a misunderstanding that once you’re a Christian, you won’t suffer any more. That simply isn’t true. We still live in an imperfect world, and suffering can and will come our way. But the difference is that know that we know we don’t suffer alone. God is with us in our suffering, even when we may not realize it. And sometimes that means we view suffering differently than others might. But it certainly doesn’t mean that everything will always be simple.

We get glimpses, at various times, into God’s presence in our lives. Some of these glimpses are longer or clearer than others. I like to think of these as the “mountaintop experiences”, or kind of like being on a rollercoaster. Those times when you’re flying high. And sometimes we have to take comfort in those times, and hold on to it, for the times when we’re in the valleys or the lows in life. After all, if everything was a mountaintop experience, we’d soon stop seeing the value in that! We’d probably still be expecting more. I’ve noticed, though, in my life, that the more I seem to notice these moments, or signs, or little, ordinary miracles, the more often they seem to come across my path. I don’t think it’s that God has started sending me a bigger number of signs, but that I’ve started doing a better job of noticing the little things.

What the story of the water in the rock shows, on top of it being a miracle, is the grace and mercy of God. God heard the complaints of the Israelites, and their lack of gratitude for all they’d already received, and answers those complaints with love, a fulfilling of their needs. It’s not simply some kind of “magic”, where Moses said the right words or tapped the rock the right way with his special staff and water came out. It’s a miracle that shows the grace and mercy of God, to people who may not have “deserved” it, but who needed it and received it nonetheless. Water may not have come to them as the Israelites expected, but their angry prayers and outcry were answered in ways that defied all belief. God is with us, God hears our suffering, and God responds in ways we often don’t expect! So let’s try to stay tuned in to these ordinary miracles each and every day.

Amen.