Not long after God had delivered his earthly people, the Jews, from Egypt by his great power and led them by Moses through the parted waters of the Red Sea and after He had sweetened the waters at Marah and provided manna for them in the wilderness to eat daily, the people once more became thirsty and complained against the LORD. In fact, Moses records for us the exact nature of their sin, “They tempted the LORD, saying, is the LORD among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:7). To put it succinctly, the people looked at their circumstances and doubted God’s promises to them (Exodus 6:1-8). They wanted more than his promise. They wanted to see evidence of his working on their behalf. Looking back at this event, the author of Hebrews relates that this behavior “grieved” the LORD (Hebrews 3:10).
God’s people today are oftentimes not much different in their conduct. The Lord himself has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). Yet, somehow his promise is not sufficient, even though in all things we are taught otherwise. The Scriptures pervasively teach that his presence is provision enough. His loving care directed by infinite wisdom and executed by sovereign omnipotence is ever at work. But when our circumstances do not somehow fit our expectations, we question God’s presence rather than trust his promise. In essence, as the Jews of old we too question, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Perhaps, the greater problem to address is that these expectations by which we interpret our circumstances are shaped by our own desires. In essence what we really want is for God to conform to our expectations and desires rather than us choosing to conform our expectations to him and to his will. Understand this, that peace and contentment will never be ours by the former – only by the latter! The Psalmist wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). That is, he speaks of knowing God’s presence by ceasing from his own agenda.
The pursuit of our own desires blinds us to God’s presence and resists the exercise of faith in his promises. David had an answer for this care. He exhorted himself, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psalm 62:5). God determined and controlled the unfolding of the events in David’s life and David trained his soul to wait and to rest in the care of his God. May we do likewise. Let me encourage you with a few stanzas from an old hymn of the faith, “Be Still, My Soul:”
Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev’ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
From the Chaplain 