Lord, help us to be open to hear and receive Your Word.
Help us to trust it, and to live by it, to Your praise and glory. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Have you heard the story of the minister who was well known for his great love of pantomime? The congregation he was visiting had been briefed, and were prepared. When the minister began with the greeting "The Lord is here", the resounding response came back "Oh, no, He's not"! (Please give that idea up for Lent here at the Priory!)
"Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17 : 7). That was certainly the question being asked of God by the Israelites in today's Old Testament Reading. We're told that the people of Israel were on the move from the Desert of Sin, on the way to Mount Sinai. When they stopped to camp at a place which was found to have no water, they quarrelled with their leader Moses, and grumbled against him. Why had he led them to this barren place? Why had he brought them out of Egypt? Although they addressed these complaints to Moses, we are told that it was, in fact, the Lord who they were really testing. If it was the Lord who had led them out of slavery in Egypt, then was the Lord still there with His people in the wilderness?
"Is the Lord among us or not?" How easily, and often, the Israelites seemed to forget all that the Lord had done for them - the signs and wonders in Egypt, the Passover, the parting of the waters, the manna in the desert - and how quick they were to call into question the Lord's presence in their midst. As Psalm 95 - of which we sang a hymn version earlier - later put it : "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did" (Psalm 95 : 8, 9).
Yet such collective amnesia and corporate grumbling was not something unique to that particular people at that particular time. From the dawn of history, humans have always found it easy to forget the blessings of life, and instead to focus on the negative. To convince ourselves that the grass is always greener elsewhere, and that somebody else is to blame for things not being as we'd wish. However, if not recognised and repented of, this attitude slowly leads to a hardening of human hearts, a hardening which affects, and infects, all our relationships - with this world, with one another, with ourselves, and with God.
Of course, not all questioning is wrong. The opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear. And the journey of faith does indeed involve times when you and I might very well wonder where on earth God is to be found at work. Doubtless each and every one of us knows what it is to face important issues which really do test us - issues such as suffering and pain, bereavement, work uncertainties or stress, financial insecurity, or relationship problems. These affect us individually. They also affect us corporately, for we are always part of a wider community - of family and friends, of neighbours and colleagues, and of the whole Company of Christ. And at such testing times, it is normal and natural for us to seek re-assurance.
Perhaps, then, we can feel some sympathy for the people of Israel. They had left behind them a life of oppressive slavery in Egypt. And now here they were struggling to survive in the hostile surroundings of the bleak and barren desert, without even water to quench their thirst. The Promised Land must have seemed like an impossible dream, a mirage in the shimmering heat. No wonder they asked "is the Lord among us or not?" They badly needed reassurance - over and over again.
And that is what they received. The Lord told Moses to "strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink" (Exodus 17 : 6). And so their thirst was quenched, and they were able to continue journeying to the Promised Land. Once again, the Lord re-assured His people that He was indeed among them, and that He cared for their daily needs.
Today, as we recall this episode in the faith story of God's people, may you and I also remember this. It is the same Lord who wants to re-assure us, whenever you and I find ourselves asking whether He is among us. His loving presence is there, even when we can't see it or feel it.
Last Tuesday, Mary and I faced a bit of a dilemma. We wanted to have a walk with Tara, but everything we could see around us down here in Malvern was shrouded in a thick blanket of fog. In the end, we decided to try parking at the Wyche Cutting and heading up towards the Beacon. How glad we were to have made the effort! For as we climbed the steep hill, we left the fog behind us. Now we were in bright sunshine with a clear blue sky, and our walk was a bit like being in an aeroplane with a thick white blanket below. Beautiful!
It strikes me that this could be a picture of our walk with God. The light and warmth and brilliant radiance of God's Presence is there all the time. However we are often unaware of it, as those living in a world clouded by the fog of sin. Nevertheless, there are moments when you and I do find ourselves rising above the murk, and catching a wonderful glimpse of unclouded glory.
The sun is there. And - as happened last Tuesday -it continues to shine, as it seeks to dispel the fog by the warmth of its rays. So it is with the Lord and His people. We need to remember that the Son - the Lord Jesus Christ - is there, and that His light continues to shine. And it is as we look to Jesus that we receive the re-assurance we need, whatever our present circumstances.
That's certainly what St. Paul reminds us of in today's New Testament Reading. In his book Wrestling with Romans, John Robinson notes that this passage marks the beginning of a key chapter in the epistle: "Paul now goes on to … (sketch) the themes which will occupy the second half of the doctrinal section of the epistle and as though in an overture to Act II the tunes are played over. The new words are peace, glory, endurance, hope, love, the Spirit, salvation, reconciliation, life" (p 56, 57).
And this is all about Jesus. Jesus is the One through whom we are justified - put right - with God, as we trust in Him. Jesus is the One who enables us to have peace with God. Jesus is the One who enables us to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Jesus is the One through whom God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the One who died for us, while we were yet sinners. Jesus is the One who saves us from God's wrath. And Jesus is the One through whom we have now received reconciliation with God.
None of this has happened because you and I are worthy of it.
It is not because we deserve, or perhaps even desire, such amazing grace. No, it has happened because that is the very Nature of the Lord who is among us. For it is the same Lord who once provided water for His people in their wilderness wanderings who now provides streams of Living Water for us in Jesus Christ, the One through whom the fresh springs of the Holy Spirit are given, welling up within us to eternal life.
Moses was told to "strike the rock, and water shall come out of it for the people to drink." In that way, the Israelites were re-assured that the Lord was still among His people. Yet they soon forgot, and needed other signs of God's Presence with them, and His care for them. Now, in the light of Jesus, you and I are given the full assurance, and re-assurance, of God's gracious presence and loving purpose, once and for all. Assurance in Jesus, who was cruelly stricken on a cross. In the One whose blood was shed for the sins of the world, so that the world might be saved - remade whole - through Him.
So whenever you and I find ourselves asking where God is to be found in our trying circumstances, "let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." And let us remember it is in Jesus Christ that we are given a love that can never be fathomed, a life that can never die, a light that can never be darkened, a hope that can never be disappointed, and a glory that can never be clouded. For the Lord is here. And His Spirit is with us.
John Barr
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