My Resting Place

They were led by a cloud during the day and by a pillar of fire at night so it was not by chance they found themselves at Rephidim. But what they did not find was water, so they rebelled against God and tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

I have been thinking about this story all week. Recovering from brain surgery has been very difficult. My heart sank when I found out I was going to need more surgery on my eye since it will no longer close properly. I had determined in my heart before I went into surgery that I would not complain, and yet I have found that to be a difficult resolve to keep. So I continually pray, "Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" (Psalm 19:14).

In the book of Hebrews I see the story of Rephidim in a different light. I also find instruction for what I am going through in my life. "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their hearts: they have not known my ways.' As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest'"(Hebrews 3:7-11).

I have been studying this not to gain knowledge but because I want to learn from what happened in the wilderness. The word Rephidim means "resting place" and yet because of the disbelief of the children of Israel the name was changed to Massah and Meribah. Massah mean "to test" and Meribah means "strife." Because of lack of faith the place that God had intended to be a place of rest became a place of strife. Rephidim was a place where the hardness of their hearts was exposed.

Oh Lord, I do not want to strive against You! I come to you, my rock and my redeemer. In You my thirst and the deepest longing of my heart is quenched. In you I find rest for my soul.