Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Feb 28 2019 - Exodus 17:1-16 – Water and victory

Water is even more essential to human survival than bread and quails. You can survive for many days without food but for only a very few days without water in a hot and dry land. The Israelites would have been travelling from one water source to another, but when they camped at Rephidim no water could be found. Again they soon complain against Moses and against God saying, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" (v. 3).

The problems are too great for Moses (see his complaint in v. 4), but nothing is impossible for the Lord. Moses is told to take in his hand the staff with which he struck the waters of the Nile. This staff is later called "the staff of God" (v. 9). It is not some magic wand with which Moses can perform magic tricks. This is the staff of God. It is the symbol of God's presence with them and his power which is active on their behalf. By the use of this staff, God makes it plain to both Moses and the children of Israel that he, the living God, is acting to help and to bless them. This staff had been used to display God's power before Pharaoh; it had been used to part the Red Sea and to restore its waters. Now it will be used to provide the Israelites with fresh water in the desert.

Moses is commanded by God to strike the rock. Water flowed from it for the people and their animals to drink. All of this happened at a place called Massah and Meribah. Massah speaks of God's testing of his people – would they trust him or would they fear that they would die of thirst. Meribah speaks of their complaint and quarrelling against God – they failed the test. This incident is picked up later in Psalm 95 which urges God's people:

Today, if only you would hear his voice,
 ‘Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
    as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did.   (Psalm 95:7-9)

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews again picks up this incident, quoting the verses from Psalm 95 and urging Christians to remember God's promises, go on listening to God's voice and not to turn back from following Christ (see Hebrews 3:7-12).

The second half of today's passage tells the story of the Amalekites' attack on the Israelites. Moses stood on a hill overlooking the battle with the staff of God in his hand. While his hands were raised the Israelites would begin to win the battle but when his arms grew tired and he let them drop the Amalekites began to gain the upper hand. Aaron and Hur therefore stood on either side of Moses supporting his arms. So the Israelites won the battle.

Again, we should not think that there was anything magical about Moses' arms. He has the staff of God in his hands. While he stretches out the staff of God towards the battlefield he is, in symbol, extending God's power over the battle. Moses' hands, lifted in prayer, connect with the very throne of the Lord (v. 16). Prayer connects with the power that governs the universe and that God has covenanted to use for the protection and blessing of his people.

We who come to God in prayer through the Lord Jesus Christ also come before his throne of grace and connect with the gracious power that rules the world and ensures the fulfilment of his promises.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the victory that is ours in Christ; "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Help us always to trust in you and the promises of your presence with us and protection of us. Open our ears, Lord Jesus, to hear your call upon our lives that we might be kept from bitterness and resentment when the path before us seems dark and dry. Keep us constant in prayer and joyful in tribulation, for the sake of your name and your glory.

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Feb 28 2020 - Acts 9:1-25 – A life turned around

Saul the Pharisee had been present at Stephen’s stoning and had approved of his death. But the message Stephen had preached was going from strength to strength. Saul was intent on putting a stop to it. In his view, to suggest that Jesus of Nazareth, who had been crucified by the Romans, was the Jewish Messiah was not only ridiculous, it brought shame on Judaism. This madness needed to be stamped out, and Saul was just the man to do it.

But he had reckoned without one small matter; Jesus had been raised from the dead and that made all the difference. God himself had owned Jesus as Messiah and had raised him to a place of power and authority. His resurrection from the dead meant that the age to come had broken into the middle of human history – the age of the Messiah, the age of the Spirit, the age when the Gentiles would come to share in all the blessings that God had promised to Abraham had now arrived. All of Saul’s thinking is turned on its head by his encounter with the risen Jesus.

And it’s not just his thinking that’s turned upside down; his life is turned around. The one who was intent on destroying the church of Jesus Christ becomes a disciple and an apostle, one sent by Jesus to proclaim his name among Jews and Gentiles. The one who came to destroy the Christian community in Damascus and root them out of the synagogues becomes their chief advocate, preaching in the synagogues and proving that Jesus is the Christ. Saul will now become the focus of Jewish opposition and persecution. How have the tables turned!

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead changes everything. It did then and it does now. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins”, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:17.

The book of Acts will soon focus on the developing and expanding ministry of the apostle Paul; he will occupy centre stage. But we should not miss the key role played by others in this drama.

First there is Ananias. He had heard that Saul the Pharisee was on his way to destroy the church in Damascus. Then, one day, the Lord appeared to Ananias in a dream, telling him that Saul had arrived and that Ananias was to go and meet him. Ananias’ initial response is, in effect, ‘Lord, you must be joking!’ Nevertheless he is obedient to the Lord’s command and goes. More than that, on finding Saul, he greets him as ‘Brother Saul’ and lays his hands on him. Through the ministry of Ananias, Saul regains his sight, is baptised and becomes part of the fellowship of Christians in Damascus. We know nothing else of Ananias, but he plays a key role in the life of Saul/Paul and of the developing spread of the gospel.

We may not feel that we could ever be a Paul, but we can be an Ananias. We can make it our aim to welcome those who have come to know Christ, no matter their previous history or reputation. We can own them as our brothers and sisters and seek to encourage them in going on with the Lord Jesus.

Risen Lord, continue that work of transformation you have begun in me. May my every thought be made captive to you and every part of my life be an act of service of you and of your kingdom. You gave yourself for our redemption; keep me from half-hearted devotion to you. Keep me also from passing quick judgments upon others. Help me to accept all whom you have welcomed into your family and to encourage them in serving you.

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Peter Misselbrook