"All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" 3But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" (Exodus 17:1-3)
All of us face disappointments, they very and different from each other. Do to the context of our lives, for example if the person is single, married, divorce, in jail, work as a police officer will experience disappointments in one area or another. But what all disappointments have in common is the reaction of the person. Ether the person submits to the situation and goes on thankfully, or the person formulates this unsatisfied heart. The reaction of Israel when the faced the situation when they had no water, was quarreling. Basically, people were in disagreement with how Moses lead their life, but was it Moses?
The reason why they experience shortness of water was because of God's plan. "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not" (Exodus 16:4). Another words, God wanted to put them in the special situation where that situation reveals who they really are.
We are selves placed in all kind of situation daily. Blame everyone, but ourselves. It might be impossible to bear or it might be something little. This situation might be lasting for days or it might be lasting for years (God knows). But what matter is our reaction to the situation. What emotions pass our mind? What we think or say when we think about our situation? Another words, is our reaction to a problem?
There can be two outcomes from facing a problem. One is that we accept it with humility and thank the Lord. Another is that we battle and fight, complain, find solutions to back out, but at the end become bitter. According to the outcome, both can be constructive in our life. Both can have one thing in common: humility before the Lord. James says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).
Let this be a reminder to joyfully accept a situation that is not pleasant in our life.
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