Exodus 17 -- What Happens When Kids Take Charge Of The Trip?

The Israelites traveled from place to place, as the Lord commanded, it says.  So camping at Rephidim was something God had commanded.  It also happened to have no water at a time when the people were aching for a drink.  They quarreled with Moses and grumbled against him.  They didn’t like where they were and the conditions there.  They also didn’t trust God, even though they were right where He wanted them to be.

The sidebar in my bible says that they’d been living in the fertile farmland of Goshen since coming to Egypt, in spite of the fact that they were being treated as slaves.  So the desert was certainly a shock to their system.  They were used to providing for themselves and now they were having to learn to trust God.

Max Lucado compared it all to parents and kids on a trip.  If parents indulge their children by granting every request, the trip would become a nightmare and the destination might never be reached.  He compared us to the children and the parents to God:  “When His sovereign plan and your earthly plan collide, a decision must be made.  Who’s in charge of this journey?  If God must choose between your earthly satisfaction and your heavenly salvation, which do you hope He chooses?”

Father, I’m all too often like that child.  I’m all too often like those Israelites, too.  I continue to fight You over my earthly satisfaction, and I’m sorry.  Please speak to my heart when I do, and gently remind me that You do indeed know best, and I don’t.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford