Exodus 17:1-7
The Thirsty Israelites
 
This passage begins with: “The whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages” (v.1). My mind immediately went to different stages of our spiritual journey. Some are just beginning, some are in the middle, and some have been on the journey for a very long time. Others fill in the gaps in between on this long spectrum. The Message Bible says, “Directed by God, the whole company of Israel moved on by stages from the wilderness” (v.1-2). This interpretation provides a different visual of them traveling in different groups, leaving the wilderness. We all leave the wilderness moments at different times and stages of our faith journey. The New Living Translation says, “they moved from place to place,” suggesting they were together, but making frequent stops. One wilderness led to another wilderness. The footnote in the Harper Collins Study Bible for “stages” says, “journey stops,” which would also suggest the stages were actually stops, moments when we pause on our faith journey or perhaps moments that stop us in our tracks, when we are thirsty for God.
 
On a physical hike, when we’re thirsty, we pause and take a drink. We make frequent “journey stops” to rest and drink the water we need in order to keep going. Our spiritual journey is the same way. We can’t keep going without making frequent journey stops to pause and to drink. In fact, we often stop to drink because we are thirsty. Or, we stop because we’ve arrived at a place that is difficult. We pause at the hardship to figure out how to overcome it, and we drink from the well of God.
 
This might suggest the Israelites’ experience. They encountered a lot of obstacles and hardship, and often went from one trial to another. God had just satisfied their hunger by feeding them. Now, they find themselves thirsty. They stopped at Rephidim, which is just described as a “stopping place,” and it had no water -- a new trial, a new challenge, in which they need to rely on the Lord to provide.
 
Perhaps the different stages were areas of their lives where they had to learn to trust God. They were fleeing from their enemies, and God parted the Red Sea so they could escape them. They were hungry, and God rained down bread and provided meat to satisfy their hunger. Now, they are thirsty, a new stage or area where they need to trust God. They stopped on their journey, but this new stage did not provide the water they thirsted for, the water they needed to survive.
 
God provided a way for them to receive the gift of water in this stage. God told Moses to “strike the rock [with the same staff he used to part the sea], and water will come out of it” (v.6). Water doesn’t usually come out of rocks, hard places, but with God, anything is possible.
 
What really satisfied their thirst is God’s presence with them during this stage. God told Moses, “I will be standing there in front of you on the rock” (v.6). Often, we don’t see God right in front of us. We miss the holy presence of God when we focus on our thirst and turn to grumbling and quarreling. Even so, God is there, waiting in the hard places, to give us what we need, to satisfy our thirst for God.
 
Reflection questions:
Are you thirsty for God?
Where are you on your spiritual journey? Are you at a journey stop?
How often do you stop to rest and to drink Christ’s life-giving water?
Have you missed seeing God right in front of you before?
​What can you do to make sure you don’t miss God’s holy presence?
 
Action: Do one thing this week that helps to quench your thirst for God. 

​Exodus 16:2-15
The Hangry Israelites
 
Two months in, the Israelites turn to complaining. They have no idea how long they will be in the wilderness, but just in two months, their daily needs for food and water have caused them to have selective memory about their experience in slavery. Yes, they were oppressed, but at least their bellies were full. They had figured out that if they just do what they’re told to do, then they would survive. The threat of their survival in the wilderness has caused them to second guess their experience in Egypt and their experience of God. Their food crisis has turned into a faith crisis.
 
Because of this crisis, their complaining turns to accusations that Moses and Aaron are trying to “kill them with hunger.” I can’t help but insert an eye roll after reading that verse. Any parent who has experienced an overly dramatic child who is “starving to death” because they haven’t eaten in two hours may pick up on the similar complaint. Why would Moses and Aaron purposely kill them with hunger? Why would they put themselves at risk to deliver their people so they could die of starvation? When basic needs are threatened and the need becomes very real, all logic goes out the window.
 
Moses tells the people that their complaints and accusations are really against God, and we are guilty of that same leap. When we are angry about a tragedy and we don’t know where to put our anger, we will often be angry at God for allowing it to happen. God didn’t wait for Moses to ask for help. God hears the complaints and accusations and immediately responds. God tells Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven” (v.4).
 
God didn’t stop there. God also provided meat. Each morning and each evening, God was present in the food that satisfied their hunger. Hunger is a very powerful attribute of the body. It alerts us that we are in need, and if we don’t have the ability to satisfy that hunger, we get hangry fast. Our hunger shows how interconnected we are with the physical, emotional, and spiritual. Our external and internal longings are joined. When one is in need, it will often show up in the other. Our everyday basic needs are also spiritual needs.
 
When we have a physical need for food, we will often have a spiritual one because we feel disconnected from God for allowing us to be hungry. When we have a spiritual hunger, we may try to feed that hunger ourselves by overeating or self-medicating in other ways. Just like with the Israelites, our true hunger is for God.
 
The physical hunger for the Israelites in the wilderness is a very real need, but when they took their eyes off God who could satisfy their hunger, they became angry and accusatory. They had just experienced God in the miraculous act of parting the Red Sea and God delivering them from oppression, so they were used to seeing God in huge, extraordinary ways. They didn’t know that God is also present in the daily, ordinary gifts of food.
 
These ordinary gifts of bread and meat were given to show the Israelites that God is present with them. God is in the daily bread that satisfies their hunger. “Draw near to the Lord,” as Moses said, and receive the gift of bread. When have you experienced God in the bread?
 
Reflection questions:
Have you experienced physical hunger that caused you to be hangry?
Do you have a spiritual hunger? Do you see them connected?
Have you ever had a crisis that turned into a faith crisis? How did you find your way back to God?
What are you hungering for now?
 
Action: Do one thing this week that helps to feed someone who is hungry.
 

Matthew 18:15-20
Life in the Church
 
This passage in Matthew talks about life together as the church. Jesus describes what a healthy church looks like. Yes, it infers the church has sin and conflict, but notice Jesus doesn’t say, “Don’t sin or avoid conflict.” It’s a given that those things are going to happen. We're human. But when those things do happen, Jesus teaches how to handle them in a way that brings reconciliation.
 
When reconciliation occurs, Jesus is present. Christ reconciled sin and death through his resurrection, so Christ is present in any reconciliation. In verse 20, Jesus names himself as the divine presence who is present when two or three are gathered in his name and his purpose, even if it’s only two or three.
 
The need for the presence of witnesses in verse 16 is describing a specific instance when handling a conflict. If a person doesn’t listen to a one-on-one conversation, then Jesus recommends taking “one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” Having others present to witness the conversation might keep the conversations from getting misconstrued. Words can get twisted and misunderstood during courageous conversations.
 
However, I think there needs to be the presence of witnesses to also witness the presence of Christ. One person may experience the power of Christ’s reconciliation, but when another person also witnesses that experience, the divine presence is shared. A shared experience of God binds people together, which solidifies the reconciled conflict. It’s one thing to know that a conflict has been resolved, but quite another to experience that Christ was present and was the one moving hearts to forgiveness and acceptance.
 
Sometimes when we personally experience Christ’s presence, we keep it to ourselves and not share it with others. Often when this happens, we begin to question it over time. We may think we are crazy or talk ourselves out of having this divine experience. When we don’t speak it into existence, it doesn’t seem real to us. It only lives in our heads similar to a fantasy.

We need two or three to be a witness of God’s presence, so that it does become real to us. When others witness it too, then it becomes real to the community and real to the world. We need to be more open about sharing our experiences of Christ because we need to be the witnesses for the world.
 
Reflection questions:
When have you experienced Christ’s presence when two or three are gathered?
What was that experience like?
Have you experienced Christ’s reconciliation in a conflict?
How was that different from the conflict just being resolved?
Have you witnessed Christ’s presence in someone else’s experience?
 
Action: The next time you gather with others, be intentional about gathering in Jesus’ name.
             Pay attention to Christ’s presence among you.