My Thoughts On Exodus 17:7

Exodus 17: 7 “And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

I have been reading through the Bible in my time in Ignite and I found myself in Exodus this past week. I love the story of God leading the Israelites out of Egypt and how He provided a cloud to go before them by day and a pillar of fire by night. The Israelites saw the Red Sea split in two and they walked across on dry ground. Every time they faced a need, the Lord provided, protected, and was present with them. He never failed them. In Exodus seventeen they find themselves in the wilderness in a place called Massah which means testing. They had manna to eat and had just received water out of a rock, but the people are upset at Moses. They look back at Egypt like it was some wonderful place and they want to go back. That is when Moses renamed the place Meribah, which means quarreling. The Israelites are asking a question that may seem silly and obvious to us, but for them, stuck in the middle of the wilderness, they really wondered “Is the Lord among us or not?” 

I think that I can relate to these Israelites in a very real way. The Lord has brought me to Ignite and has worked in ways that still blow my mind. There were Red Seas split in two and pillars of clouds or fire showing me where to go. There was not a time that the Lord failed me or left me without His presence, but I so easily forget. I turn times of testing into times of quarreling. I get everything I need and far more handed to me. Somehow I always end up looking back at how life once was. Even more often do I find myself asking “Lord are you with me or not?” It is so easy to look at the life of the Israelites and see the big picture. It is easy to see that the Lord split the Red Sea for them and not long after they were wondering where He was. But what about you? What about me? Why do we forget so fast?

I think maybe we ask where He is not because the Lord is hiding, but only because we are blind. 

Application: I will choose to open up my eyes this week and see the ways the Lord is working, even ones that may seem small to me. I will write these down in my journal.