“So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’” Exodus 17: 4-6
First of all, you are NOT acting like the people wandering with Moses. I want to be clear on this!
Like them, we are in a strange place. Like them, our lives aren’t exactly what they used to be. Like them, we are having to learn new ways of being. Like them, we are beginning to feel like this is the “new abnormal.” Like them, we know we will get through this, we just don’t know when, or what it will look like. Like them, we are frustrated, afraid, perhaps even a bit bored.
UNLIKE them, you haven’t been complaining, or blaming. At least not out loud. At least not to me. You have been remarkably thoughtful, patient, kind, gracious, forgiving, and resilient! No, I don’t think I am Moses, but I have heard from plenty of colleagues who in this time have been treated in a similar way to Moses in the Exodus. And there have been plenty of leaders who might have reason to sigh “What shall I do with these people?!” (I think, for instance of all the teachers, caught in the middle of competing and impossible expectations).
I love that the Bible records both the complaining and Moses’ exasperation. It tells me that it is OK to feel as we feel. It also reminds us that our words can hurt. And it encourages us to give each other a little bit of grace (as you have done so well with your church staff!)
There is something else here, though. Do you notice that God doesn’t whine back to Moses? (Of course, who could God complain to? There is none like our God!) God hears the complaining of the people, and hears to the complaining of Moses about the people. God takes it in. And then God responds to meet the needs so whiningly expressed. God assures Moses of his leadership: I will be with you.
God has big shoulders. When you want to sigh, to complain, to kvetch, to cry, to scream, God is ready to listen. God is ready to hold you. God gets it. God understands. That is one blessing of prayer. God will not abandon you, even when you aren’t particularly likeable.
And God will respond. That doesn’t mean that God will give you what you want. The people are saying that they would rather go back to Egypt; to the way things used to be. That simply isn’t going to happen. God doesn’t correct them, God doesn’t use the occasion to explain God’s reasoning, God doesn’t even give that foolishness the time of day. God just guides Moses to open up a spring so that they can drink.
GeorgeLoving, listening, caring God, thank you for putting up with us. Thank you for being with us when we feel hurt and frustrated. Your presence comforts our pain, calms our anger, and humbles our pride. Move in us, we pray, that we might be the rock from which flows an abundance of hope, for which so many are thirsting this day. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Questions for discussion following Sunday’s message:
- What authorities do you respect? Why?
- When do you feel confident? Competent?
- How can we be of one mind, yet each be working out our own salvation?