“And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?” (Exodus 17:1-2 KJV)
“…and there was no water…” No water? It is often the case that when we find ourselves in these situations that those around us accuse us of miss-stepping the bounds God has placed for us (see Job 4:7). Yet, in this instance, the people never left the leadership of the pillar of fire nor of the cloud, yet there was no water. What a situation to be in. No one likes to be in a place without water because it is a very unmanageable situation. You are put in a place where you cannot provide for your own basic needs. Still it is a great test to see what is in your heart. Do we chide (complain, content, strive) with our leaders and tempt (test or try) the Lord? Or in the midst of our very real need, do we lay the situation at God’s feet in trust and fervent prayer and know that even if we do die in this present desert that God has still been faithful and has still displayed His power? Do we understand that it is God’s name on the hook and not necessarily ours? Even if it were ours, would we not be willing to give up our name in exchange for what He has given us? We are anxious to know why God is leading us to a place that contains no water, so we can manage our way around such a situation, but the situation is not ours to manage. The challenge sometimes is ours to go through and to endure that the master refiner might refine us and that He might gain glory by both our improvements and by the power, which He will display to resolve the situation. This is truly a challenge for someone who insists on being his or her own manager.
There is another layer to this though. Being without basic necessities, like water, puts us into survival mode because in that moment we think of ourselves as a creature that is alive and is not yet ready to die. We look at ourselves as living people. He sees us as dead people who need to live. You may ask, what killed us? The moment that we ate of the fruit, we became “individuals” effectively severing a oneness with God. That’s also why pride is so very dangerous. It feeds off of “me”. It accentuates what I am. What I can become. So, when we let (or are strongly encouraged to let) some part of what we think is a living body die, he is able to resurrect that missing relationship that needs to consider the “other”. Once the relational layer of us is alive, then the rest of us can really live. Of course this can only be done in Christ who makes this possible.
This journey through places without water may have been more than a test. It may have been an opportunity to let the Lord draw out of us those things that are more than food or drink for the body. Those things that require us to dig into that relational layer. That layer that shows us that our prayers are more than requests. They are a feeding off of him. Once we are through such deserts and we have exercised that relational layer, then praise and thankfulness have a valid target! It’s then that we see what Christ just did in us. He breathed his life into us again when we didn’t even realize how dead we were. Christ shows up and revives people even if it’s just two people texting about his wonders. The key part about where 2 or 3 are gathered (see Matthew 18:20) is the “gathered together in my name”. The relational part is breathing for even that minute. Chide (complain, content, strive) does just the opposite. It pushes him away.
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51 KJV)