Waters of Meribah
“By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.”
Today’s Text: Psalm 106:13-33 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
I have to think long and hard over my blog for today. These verses stood out to me, and a whole host of thoughts and emotions came flooding in. Because of that, I didn’t want to use this passage for today’s reflection, at first. But then I realized, that would have been deflecting how God is really speaking to me today.
And the first thing He is telling me is, “Be wise, pastor. Be wise.”
Being any kind of leader is not easy. But I wonder if being a pastor might be one of the most difficult leadership offices any person can hold. I could chase down a bunch of statistics to support that hunch. But I am a pastor, and so whatever statistics I find would undoubtedly support that hunch because of my bias.
I’ve always prided myself in understanding my strengths and weaknesses pretty well. In fact, one of my weaknesses is that I tend to emphasize my weaknesses too much. Isn’t it crazy how that act of simply writing this proves the point.
All that to say that I recognize quite clearly that I am far from perfect as a pastor and as a leader. And sometimes, as I stand preaching at the pulpit, I can feel like the chief of all sinners. But that is not unique to me. I think pretty much every pastor understands what I am talking about.
But here is maybe one of the most difficult things about the office of pastor: feeling like I’m herding cats and then being criticized for not doing it well.
Lord, give me some sheep to herd, please! And as I think that, the Lord is asking me, “Pastor, are you a cat or a sheep?”
When I think about the ministry of Moses, his highest point was not all the miracles God performed through him in Egypt, not when he led the Israelites through the Red Sea, not when he fasted forty days and forty nights and received the ten commandments from God. For me personally, the highest moment in Moses’s ministry came when he interceded for the Israelites as God was ready to destroy them for their idolatry and restart His plan of salvation for the world all over again through Moses.
And Moses’s lowest point? When “rash words came from Moses’ lips” at the waters of Meribah.
Honestly, when I think about what Moses said and did there, I can understand his frustration. But his frustration was expressed through self-righteousness, begrudging obedience, and just plain disobedience. And Moses never entered the promised land because of it.
“Pastor, are you a cat or a sheep? And whose approval are you seeking anyway?”
I’ve always had a bit of a lofty idea about the kind of church community that I would want to build up—a church community that grows only as fast as the slowest member.
Am I that slowest member?
Father, You are good. Your ways are high above, as far as the heavens are from the earth. Your standards are impossible, Lord. But You have sent Your Son. And because You have sent Your Son, Moses is in the true promised land. And so will I be. Forgive me for whenever I am a cat, instead of Your sheep. Forgive me whenever I am seeking human approval rather than Yours. Change my heart, O God, and renew a right, steadfast spirit in me. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
