20:1 Moses' sister, Miriam passes from earth. We've spent so much time reading about Moses' journey that we might have forgotten that God, through Miriam, made Moses' accomplishments possible. Miriam was instrumental in protecting her younger brother, returning him back home after his bundle was placed in the river. To God, we are each instrumental. Our part here is crucial. Meaningful. Impactful.
Miriam was not perfect and neither was Moses. God's prophets and messengers, students and soldiers in this book never are. They are, in many ways, us. Just as Miriam's life does not end at this point in the story, neither does this Bible end at Revelation. We continue this story on. In the realization of that, we must be like Moses and Miriam. Pushing this faith forward, enabling it to empower the massive collection.
20:2 The congregation of the children of Israel run out of water. Superficially, this makes sense. They're in the middle of a wilderness, a desert wilderness. It makes sense on a spiritual level, too. Our God is an abundant spring in all places, deserts included. If the children of Israel have found themselves to be without water, it is because they have cut themselves off from the source. This is apparent in their complaints, for if they were tethered to God in mind, body and soul, they would have never experienced drought in the first place.
20:3-4 In our own present and personal deserts, we are guilty of the same. We must dissect the complaint: the children of Israel are swirling and wallowing around in what they do not have. How often do we find ourselves in a position where we want something but do not have it... and then blame God or bad luck or some other thing for not providing? Instead this is what they and we need to do: trust God. Trust that God is able and willing and eager to provide. We must let our trust in Him propel our motivation to bring our own blessings about.
How can a beautiful, pure, luminous blessing come through a faith-tunnel that is blocked by unbelief? Resentment? Blame? Clear it out! Clear the cobwebs, open your connection with God and then clear out all the darkness that does not belong there.
The children of Israel have an intermediary, someone to pray and believe on their behalf and so do we. We are imperfect and therefore our faith is sometimes going to become clogged or tainted but we have an intermediary who will help us sweep and clear it out. Jesus Himself promised us His love and guidance and a helper, John 14:16. Claim that gift because without it, we remain in a desert. We were made in God's image, Genesis 1:27. We were not made in the image of a scorpion, of a desert-crawler. We were built reliant on Him. He is our provider while we sojourn in this land that is not our natural home. Without Him, we are cut off from that which keeps us alive.
20:5 The children of Israel are looking around their lives and they are displeased. Nothing around them reflects what the inside of them wants. And yet... of course they find themselves to not be in a place with grain, figs, vines or pomegranates! They are supposed to be producing those things, though and by their faith. How can you live within a utopia when you do not tend the garden? How can blessings thrive when they are cut off from the root? Strangled by disbelief, greed or negativity? How can goodness grow out of infertile soil? It cannot.
We must, as a generation, stop blaming God for what we are or are not doing. He's providing just as He always has: abundantly, unconditionally. We are simply not tapping into that source. Yet we blame Him. And non-believers and agnostics blame Him, too... because we, His children, are not representing our Father! We are not making known His ability.
Any area of destitution or desert is a result of our behavior, of our lack, not of His. The children of Israel, and likely we ourselves, need to stop waiting and pointing fingers and instead get to work. Tend the garden. Cultivate the spirit, the soul, the lifestyle, the community we wish to be blessed with.
The children of Israel say in this verse: "...nor is there any water to drink." More than a misconception, that is a lie. A bold-faced lie. John 4:14 "...but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” There is always water to drink. If anyone is thirsting it is because they are cut off from God, or because someone has cut them off from His ways. In those cases, it is our fault from letting that kink, that injustice or greed or selfishness block their ability to receive Him.
So do not state or believe a lie. There is always water. Tap into it.
20:6 Moses and Aaron pray to God on behalf of the children of Israel, our ancestors.
20:7 Notice that God does not respond with incredulity. He does not say: "Wait, what?! The water is GONE? However will I get it back?"
Instead, He is calm. Instead, He has a plan. Because He already saw, and knew about and cared about the need. Moses and Aaron gained access to help for that need through tapping into Him. He is able to react with strength and confidence because He knows that the problem is not with Him. He is able and He is full. Whatever we need, He's got it. No matter how many times we pull away and cut ourselves off, He is present and ready to provide.
20:8-9 God instructs Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock (from which water will be drawn) in front of the children of Israel. The symbol in this is that God is our rock (Psalm 18:2) and in order to receive from Him, we must speak to Him out of faith. God is the foundation on which we rest and from which we receive.
20:10 Perhaps out of frustration over the children of Israel's constant complaints, Moses and Aaron deter from God's instructions... and add in a bit of arrogance. Aaron and Moses basically say to them: "Listen, up you pains in the butt! You want water? Watch what we can do, that will keep you quiet!"
Oops. Keyword: we. God is the provider, not Moses... not Aaron, not any human.
20:11 God has instructed Moses to speak to the rock... instead, Moses strikes the rock twice.
20:12 God would rather mercifully bring our journey to its culmination than allow us to stay and ruin ourselves. At the first hint of arrogance and selfish impatience, God begins working the next phase of the plan. The next prophet, the next delivery. God knows that we are fundamentally flawed and He prepares to catch us before we become consumed by that. When we allow Him to become familiar with us, and when we become familiar with Him, we have develop an understand: God help me before I hurt myself permanently. And He always does.
20:13 The place was named Meribah, contention, because the children of Israel contented with God. How many places and instances of Meribah do we have in our lives? As this verse reminds us, He is hallowed. He's always perfect and generous and selfless and loving and able. If there is a lack, it is a point of contention we need to clear up before we move forward.
20:14-17 Continuing in their journey (because life continues on as we, too, grapple with spirituality) Moses sends messengers from his group to the king of Edom. This massive group needs to pass through the land but first they need permission.
20:18 The kind of Edom says no. This is another instructive part of their journey: roadblocks. Just the thought of them is often enough to stifle the motivation we have for our dreams. We quit before even beginning because some figurative king of Edom is probably not going to let us pass.
This is the point at which we, like the children of Israel, would through up our hands and throw out our fight, our spiritual determination. Oh, poor me! I should not have even come this far because it's all over shortly after it began.
As Jesus often says: Oh ye, of little faith. Our God blasts roadblocks.
20:19 In a moment that actually reflects the gentle spirits God loves us for, the children of Israel work to compromise with the king of Edom. They promise to be respectful guests in his land: we will pay for anything we use, we will walk rather than ride to ensure our benevolence.
20:20-21 The king of Edom still says no. But you know what? That kind of benevolence that the children of Israel showed, that gentle nature is exactly the material God uses to create a way. God becomes indignant on our behalf when we are mistreated. In the moments when we are mistreated by the world, God spoils us out of love. He ensures that we receive everything we want and hope for, everything that has been denied to us. Because He has full authority.
20:22-29 Aaron and Miriam's passing from earth bookend this chapter. Moses would have never begun without Aaron's help (just as he would have never lived without Miriam's) Neither Moses nor Aaron nor Miriam would have begun or lived without God. They (and we) return to the One Who gives us life.
