Scripture Focus: Numbers 20.10-13
10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. 
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
13 These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.

Reflection: Complaints and Responses
By John Tillman

Complaint is not always sinful but leaders too often treat it that way. 

The Israelites often complain. Sometimes their complaints are unjustified or overdramatic, but other times they concern legitimate needs. Sometimes God calls their complaining or grumbling sinful, but other times no condemnation is specified. 

In today’s passage, we see unhealthy complaining and unhealthy responses by leaders. Only Moses’ response, however, is condemned by God. Also, despite Moses disobeying his instructions, God still miraculously answered the people’s complaint. No one is a hero in this passage except God.

Healthy complaints come from reality falling short of what was promised. Israel’s promise from God, through Moses, was a land flowing with “milk and honey.” Not even having water was a natural point of complaint. 

Both times Israel complained about lack of water the confrontation got heated and personal. Both times they went beyond complaining to accuse Moses of plotting to kill them. Moses complained to the Lord in Exodus 17 that the people were ready to stone him. (Exodus 17.1-7) In today’s passage, he called them “rebels.” (Numbers 20.8-12) Moses took these personal attacks to heart, growing angry rather than compassionate toward the people’s legitimate needs.

God didn’t condemn the people or Moses for their complaining. He simply supplied their lack. At Rephidim, The Lord stood beside Moses as he struck a rock to bring forth water. At Meribah, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock to bring forth water. It is a tender and god-like act to speak things into being, but Moses rejects this plan, opting for a show of force. 

Moses speaks to the people instead of to the rock. Instead of speaking words of life, bringing life-giving water, he speaks harsh, brash, and prideful words. He defends his honor instead of honoring God. He proclaims his power, his ability, and his “righteousness” instead of demonstrating trust in God.

God says to Moses, “You didn’t trust me. You didn’t honor me. But I will still be faithful to the people and supply what they complain for. I will still be faithful to my promise and bring them into the land.” (Numbers 20.12)

For followers and leaders, complaining legitimately and responding honorably are difficult. When the reality of our world does not match the promises of God, complaint can be a spiritual practice rather than a sin. When we complain, instead of calling into question God’s holiness, we can point to God’s holiness as a reason for him to act.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
To you I lift up my eyes, to you enthroned in the heavens.
As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, and the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he shows us his mercy. — Psalm 123.1-3

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Numbers 20 (Listen – 4:15)
Psalm 58-59 (Listen – 3:32)

Read more about Complaining in Prayer
Have you ever wondered if it was appropriate to express your thoughts, feelings, and darkest emotions to God?

Read more about Complaint to Commission
Complaining can turn into unspiritual grumbling but it can also initiate lament in our lives and communities.

Scripture Focus: Numbers 11.23
21 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?” 

23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” 

Reflection: Grumbling and Doubt
By John Tillman

Even the most blessed people can find something to complain about. Some people receiving a miraculous gift will complain about the wrapping paper.

The Israelites in the desert are certainly these kinds of people. For generations, they had cried out to God to deliver them from slavery. Then, with bellies full of miraculous manna they longed for the rations they ate as slaves instead. They call into question the leadership of Moses and look back longingly at the lash of Pharaoh’s whips.

Miracles don’t guarantee faith. We can see God strike down our enemies, see him part the waters, and feed us with miracle bread, yet still grumble in our doubt and discontent.

Are we bored with our blessings? Are we complaining about the goodness we have experienced? How many miracles has God given us that we simply shrug our shoulders at and think, “I wish I could go back to yesterday.”

When people grumble about leaders (or about God), leaders often grumble to God about the people. Moses is at the end of his patience. Moses calls these followers a punishment from God. “What did I do to deserve these people?” Even great leaders grumble. Leaders are prone to doubt, discontentment, and grumbling just as much as followers. 

Right after saying, “Is my arm too short to save you?”, we might expect God to flex his muscles by working a miracle or calling down a curse. However, God chooses a different kind of “flex” to show his strength. He sends Moses, the complaining leader, human help.

God takes part of his spirit and power and distributes it to the elders of the people. By spreading his spirit to the elders, God puts himself closer to the people’s whining, not farther away. God lightens the load of the grumbling leader. He doesn’t pile on guilt.

All of us lead and all of us follow. In either position, we may be prone to grumbling and doubt. 
May we grumble in honest-hearted prayer like Moses. Not in stiff-necked denial like the people. 

No matter how deep the hole we are grumbling at the bottom of, God’s arm is not too short to reach us and lift us out. When he does, may our hearts be ready to praise him and bless others.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me. — Psalm 66.14

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Numbers 11 (Listen – 5:22) 
Psalms 48 (Listen – 1:28)

Read more about Complaint to Commission
Complaining can turn into unspiritual grumbling but it can also initiate lament in our lives and communities.

Read more about Faith After the Storm
How many times do we go to Jesus in prayer, without faith but with bucket-fulls of complaints?

Scripture Focus: Numbers 19.1-8
1 Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3 Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5 While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6 The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7 After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening. 8 The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening. 

Reflection: Water of Cleansing
By John Tillman

The water of cleansing required extraordinarily detailed criteria for the sacrifice which specified both gender and color. The ashes from this sacrifice were used to make “water of cleansing”. Whenever someone became unclean for any reason, a ritual using the water of cleansing could restore them to a state of ritual cleanliness.

One of the unique aspects of the making of the water of cleansing was that in the process of making it, the priest himself became unclean. Only by allowing himself to become unclean, could the priest carry out the rituals needed to cleanse others.

We sometimes equate being unclean with committing sin. There were sins that made one unclean, but there were also many normal parts of life which could make one unclean. 

Uncleanness was not necessarily a penalty for sinning, but a reminder that sin existed amidst the harsh realities of the world. People became unclean by simply living life in a world in which death happened, for example. Mourning a relative who died would involve becoming unclean by touching and tending to the dead body. Joseph and Nicodemus and the women who attended to the body of Jesus all became ritually unclean. 

Laws around ritual purity also reminded the Israelites that they were a unique and special people called to live in a unique degree of holiness.

Similarly, we are called to a unique degree of holiness, yet, there are harsh realities of life that make us unclean. We live in a world in which death happens and injustice, greed, and lust lay waste. We cannot go about our lives without being touched and made unclean by their destruction.

We, however, do not make our own water of cleansing. Our high priest, Jesus, supplies it for us through his sacrifice. He fulfilled all the requirements. He met all the criteria. He allowed himself to become defiled so that we could be made clean. Through confession and prayer, we can be cleansed daily from the uncleanness of our world.

Through our witness, our actions to aid our community, and through speaking the truth in love, we can offer those living in our unclean world the cleansing water of the gospel. From our eternal High Priest, Jesus, we have an eternal supply of the water of cleansing. Let us put it to use for our own cleansing and that of those around us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Let my mouth be full of your praise and your glory all the day long. — Psalm 71.8

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Numbers 19 (Listen – 3:39)
Psalm 56-57 (Listen – 3:11)

Read more about Artful Prayers
One of the reasons that the psalms are so engaging to any reader of God’s Word is that they are works of art.

Read more about A High Priest Like No Other
Our great high priest Jesus has provided each of us with access to God’s throne of grace in any time of need.