Response to the Crisis

A couple of weeks ago, my son Daniel and family stopped by. Keeping the appropriate six feet from their car, we talked for a few minutes about the Corona situation. I could see my grandsons listening intently to us with some concern. So I assured them, “You know, none of this has taken God by surprise. He is still faithfully running this planet, and He is good. He is always good.”

My oldest grandson thought about this for a minute, and shot back an honest response: “Grandma, if God is always good, why doesn’t He just stop this right now?”

That’s what a situation like this can do to us. We can look around us and begin to use what we see to define what we think about God.

It happened with the Israelites. God had led them out of slavery through the middle of the Red Sea and crushed their enemies in pursuit of them. Yet their experience with Him wasn’t enough to give them confidence of His faithfulness or His goodness.

So He began to test them. The first test was three days after crossing the Red Sea, when they ran out of water. The second test was running out of food. In both cases, the Israelites complained to Moses. In both cases, God came through for them and provided for their needs.

Then in Exodus 17, they were thirsty again. But this time around, we read that their response to the situation got uglier. They began to “strive” or “contend” with Moses. He told God, “A little more, and they will stone me!” But Moses knew they really weren’t angry with him. He informed the people, “You are putting God to the test.”

They had created such a ruckus, getting all angry and rebellious, that they lost any chance of seeing what God intended to reveal about Himself through this third test. Where did they go wrong?

1. They thought of their past as so much better than their present. They wanted to go back to Egypt, where we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full… 17:3 Their memories were selective. No one was thinking about the cruel taskmasters and back-breaking work they had left behind. No one was remembering the baby sons who had been

2. They were brimming with ingratitude and unbelief. How quickly they had forgotten what God had already done! He had already proved Himself as a faithful provider. He’d made bitter water sweet. He’d provided quail and manna for food. The cloud indicating His presence continued to be with them in the daytime, becoming a pillar of fire by night. Yet their response to this new crisis was Why now have you brought us up from Egypt? 

3. They wanted to go back to the familiar. It was all they had known until the recent events. They had known what life would bring, and now all bets were off: Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt…for you have brought us out to kill this whole assembly with hunger…

But before we get too judgy, let’s be honest with ourselves. If we could look at a road map of our lives, we would all see times where we contended with God. Maybe it was when we didn’t get what we prayed for. Or maybe is was a crisis in our lives, when we angrily questioned, “Why are you doing this to me?” Or maybe…we are not so happy with God in our current situation?

Are there ways we can respond to our frustration that will not move us toward quarreling or working against God? We can learn from the Israelites’ negative example by turning it into positive instruction for us.

1. We need to avoid remembering a convoluted past. It is always a temptation to be selective in what we remember. One great example is all of the millennial bashing that happens on social media. Baby Boomers see them as lazy, entitled, unable to wait for anything. But here’s the thing: the complaining generation is the same one that was always protesting, eschewing the older generation, doing drugs and rebelling against society. I highly doubt the generation who had come before them had much positive to say about them in their youth! But it is so easy to judge the youth of today in spite of our own not-so-glorious past.

2. We need to practice gratitude. It keeps our circumstances in perspective. It puts our focus back on the Lord and away from ourselves. Gratitude moves us from entitled to thankful and frames our problems within the faithfulness of God.

3. We need to trust God. What do you know to be true of Him? God never changes. He is the same yesterday and will remain the same tomorrow. When we are being tested, we need to rehearse what we know. Sometimes I am driven to write a physical list. Then I pray over it, telling Him I remember who He is. It’s like flicking a switch for me, making it possible to trust Him even in the direst of circumstances.

4. We need to be willing to do the work when God shows us a change that needs to happen. Everyone hates change. It might be a physical change, like a move to a different state, or a new job. It might be an emotional change, like forgiving someone or choosing to love an enemy. The familiar can feel more comfortable to us, even if we know that in the end it is destructive. Change begins in the mind. We can choose to work with Him instead of against Him. And when we do, He will transform our hearts to embrace what He is calling us to do.

We know the end of our story. Someday the tests will be at an end, because we will know God and be completely conformed to be like Jesus.

But in the meantime, our gaze on the journey toward that end must always be not on where we are, but on who He is to us. 

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). He may put us through tests, but He has not abandoned us. He stands ready to assist us. And will use it all for our transformation.