Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Exodus 17:6-7 "I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
HE TAKES IT AND STANDS BY
Have you ever thought about the tremendous amount of abuse God takes from the human race in single day? There are all the times His name is misused; all the times people deny He exists or worship other gods; all the times His holy word is treated as the writings of mere men; all the times He is openly mocked and belittled by the "educated" members of society.
He takes abuse also from those who "test" Him. As the Children of Israel sat there in the wilderness wondering how they were going to get enough water to keep a whole nation alive, they began to say, "Is the LORD among us or not?" What a horrible thing to suggest! Seeing that there was no water, they challenged God to prove His very existence. The idea was "Well, LORD, if you're really out there, you'd get us some water here."
What an insult! An insult God takes every day -- sometimes even from us Christians. Have you ever thought something like this: "If the LORD were really there He wouldn't let this happen . . ."? Have you ever questioned God's presence because things weren't going right for you? Perhaps we've "tested" the LORD and not even realized how it must have sounded to Him.
Still, as God did not turn around and forsake the Israelites, He does not turn around and forsake us. In the wilderness He spoke these beautiful words, "I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb." Though the people had challenged Him so crassly, the LORD did not stomp away in anger.
He takes abuse from us too and yet does not run away. For He has bought us with a price, the price of His very own Son, and we are His own. On Christ was laid the iniquity of us all.
