STRIKE OR SPEAK? STRIVE OR TRUST?
Thoughts about Moses, The Rock, prayer and waiting
I’ve been thinking about Moses, the rock and the gift of life-giving water (Exodus 17:5 - 7 and Numbers 20:1 - 13)
First time round, God asked Moses to hit the rock and life-giving water would flow. It really was life-giving, the Israelites were dying of thirst.
The second time, God asked Moses to simply speak to the rock. Unfortunately, Moses stayed with what he knew worked and hit the rock again, but we all know what that feels like don’t we? However, although there were consequences to Moses’ for his disobedience, God still provided life-giving water, the Israelites didn’t suffer for Moses’ lack of faith.
Then I thought - is this striking or speaking to the rock an analogy of prayer - of our relationship with God?
We know that Jesus is often referred to in Scripture as ‘The Rock’ or ‘Cornerstone’ (Psalm 118:22, each of the Gospels, Acts 4:11, Ephesians 2:20, 1Peter 2:6).
We know Jesus said that when we believe in Him streams of living (lifegiving) water will well up within us. (Jn 7:38)
Then I wrote this…
STRIKE OR SPEAK? STRIVE OR TRUST? Is Jesus encouraging us to simply speak to Him? With faith. Trusting it's all that’s needed to get His attention. Just speak. We don’t have to bash away at prayer (or God!) to get Him to listen. In fact, we have His constant attention! ... constant... ... attention... pause, take that in, read it again - we have Jesus' constant attention. We have Jesus' ... constant... ... attention... !!!!!!!!!!! He’s always listening. so we can simply speak, think, pray and know... He’s aware He’s loving us He’s preparing His response - ... even if it takes a while ... even if it’s not what we expected ... or wanted ... or assumed. He's preparing to reveal what we need ... what we really need. He's also preparing us to receive! (pause) So we wait, we trust, we grow, we become ready for that answer. And if we start to strike out at God in our frustration, He understands but still ... He won't be rushed. (pause) In fact, though we often forget when we're looking for a specific answer to our prayers, or our need, His life-giving water is already flowing - within us. That's what sustains us while we wait - for specific answers to specific prayers. Life-giving water! Flowing within us, bubbling up to eternal life, giving us a foretaste of what it's like to trust in, live with, Jesus, ,,, 24/7 (pause) But what if our prayers are for someone else? Someone in a dire situation? What if our hearts are breaking for them? What if they don't know Jesus, don't have access to His life-giving water? What then? That almost calls for more trust. Trust that God knows what He's doing. Trust that, even if they don't know it, Jesus is holding them ... as much as they will allow. Sometimes it calls for action - us sharing the life-giving water that bubbles up within us. Sometimes we need to ask Jesus, "How do I do that?" Then be obedient, trusting, waiting, not allowing our peace to be stolen away. Remembering... His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) We can't expect to understand - or even agree ... but ... ... trust ... (pause) So will we strive, or will we trust? (If you're like me, it will probably be a bit of both - trusting with the occasional wobble into striving.)