The Test

I was reading in Exodus this morning and came across something interesting.  The children of Israel “tested the Lord” because they could not find water.  In chapter 17 we find, “Therefore the people quarreled against Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel against me? Why do you test the LORD?’ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  I am sure that most are familiar with this episode in the Bible.  God goes on to tell Moses to take his rod and strike the rock and water will come out (this is not the time he struck the rock twice with anger).  It was here that “Moses 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?”

            Massah and Meribah means “testing” and “quarreling.”  Moses sees that the root of the problem for both was the fact the children of Israel did not understand or believe that the LORD was with them…understanding the presence of God and His working out of the details of our lives, even the times when we think we will die of “thirst” will determine whether we will have victory over our seeming overwhelming obstacles of life. God is present, and we can trust Him…He will test us…we must not try to test Him.