No Rest

August 10

(Psalm 95:6-11 NIV) ““Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; {7} for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, {8} do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, {9} where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. {10} For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways." {11} So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest.””

(Exodus 17:1-7 NIV) ““The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. {2} So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?" {3} But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" {4} Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." {5} The Lord answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. {6} I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. {7} And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?””

There are times when we make decisions that change the course of our personal history. We come to that proverbial fork in the road and go the wrong way. So it was with the people that God led out of bondage in Egypt. God delivered them, and in turn, they disrespected Him. He provided them with a way through the waters of the Red Sea, but they failed to trust Him to provide water for them in the desert. Their unbelieving hearts tested God one too many times and He declared they would never enter His rest. They would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. So it will be with many who walk the Earth today. Jesus provides us with living water, and our fickle hearts crave something else. He gave His all for us and we complain that it’s not enough. If we do not change our hearts and our direction, we too will die in the desert and never enter His rest. It’s our choice. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day