Monday, March 17, 2014

Lent 3 A - Exodus 17:1-7

Exodus 17:1-7
The congregation of the Israelites is a pain in the Lord’s you know what. And poor Moses standing between this quarrelsome people and God (who when push comes to shove is not to be trifled with) no doubt regrets the day he listened to a burning bush. To be fair dying of thirst in the desert drives people to do all sorts of crazy things including provoking the Lord Almighty with complaints. Even in their desperation they had good reason to trust the Lord for when they complained of hunger manna and quail arrived in time for dinner. But these people have a short memory, forgetting the Lord’s faithfulness in the past in light of their present pressing need. We tend to be more polite in our relationship with the Almighty predicating our “demands” with please but whether one complains or pleads ultimately the question is the same. “Is the Lord among us or not?” Our dry times of trouble call for patient trust so that our present pressing need does not speak more loudly than the memory of deliverance when in the past “the Lord among us” was like water from the rock. 

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