It’s tough being the leader.
Moses has no means to provide water and even though they are following
the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night they are continuing to expect
Moses to provide for them. He knows that
if there is to be water then the Lord will need to provide it. The time in the wilderness was intended to teach
them to trust, to have faith, and it seems that they had a difficult time
getting that point. Tough times always
brought out the worst in the people,
Moses’ prayer was answered in the taking of the staff which God had used
many times now and striking the rock in obedience to the Lord’s command. In this passage we also meet Joshua and the
Amalekites who will be a thorn in the flesh of the nation for generations. The Lord promises, however, that He will wipe
out these people from under heaven. That
was to be Saul’s job but he failed the test of obedience and lost his kingship.
Jesus explains what He means by saying He will go away for a
little while and then return and there is no possibility that the disciples
could have understood Him, they had no way of knowing what He meant. Their reaction, however, at the end was to
say, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using
figurative speech! Now we know that
you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we
believe that you came from God.” They
know that He knew their unspoken questions even if they had no idea that He was
talking about resurrection and ascension and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. Jesus was leading them to a
place He knew, He was going to provide all they needed for the journey, and
knew the future but couldn’t explain it to them so they could grasp it
yet. They decided to trust Him based on
His knowledge rather than question Him.
Do we have that kind of trust in Jesus the disciples had?
Peter takes for granted that life will be difficult. He has no illusions that the Christian’s life
will be free of difficulty and trouble, in fact his expectation is that there
will be suffering in this life whether you are a Christian or not. I wonder how many of us are this
realistic. Reading this pushes me back
to think about Peter on the night Jesus was arrested, he thought a bit
differently about suffering then didn’t he?
He wasn’t prepared for suffering but something changed completely after
the resurrection, ascension and Pentecost and afterwards Peter became the bold
man of courage he wanted to be. He was
willing to risk boldly for the Gospel, he no longer cared about this life,
Jesus had gone before Him and although he didn’t know what this life might hold,
he had security in the next life. We are
called not to a life of timidity but of boldness for the kingdom of God. We have the Holy Spirit to be our strength,
we are never alone.
Early let us seek Thy
favor, early let us do Thy will;
Blessèd Lord and only Savior, with Thy love our bosoms fill.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast loved us, love us still.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast loved us, love us still.
Blessèd Lord and only Savior, with Thy love our bosoms fill.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast loved us, love us still.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast loved us, love us still.
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