Doug Van Pelt

I'm THIS close to getting stoned

This is basically what Moses was crying out to the Lord as he asked God for some water for the people to drink. I can relate to that kind of prayer. I was probably thinking something similar when I went out on the back porch of the house I rented with a couple other guys in Austin during my college years. I had "come back home" to the Lord like a prodigal son the previous summer, forsaking my old life of pleasure and hedonism. A couple of the artifacts I had left behind before travelling East for a life-changing summer were part of my pot smoking past -- a giant 2' tall waterpipe made by US Bongs, called "Killer" and a small bud of potent marijuana that had been flattened and stashed in a Yes album in my record collection. I had the bong loaded with a lighter in my hand, yet I was crying out to God to help me stop. I had surrendered my life to him again just a couple months prior and for me part of that meant giving up drugs. I didn't want to get stoned, but I had cravings inside and all the ingredients were there for the using. Even as my mouth was close to the opening of the bong and burning the illegal substance was just a flick of the lighter away, I kept crying out to God, "Help me." Finally, after numerous similar prayers, I just knew I didn't have to and that I could walk away from it. "Splash!" I dumped out the water and got rid of the bong and weed. For me that really felt like the final battle. It was such a powerful struggle, but the release felt like I had withstood the onslaught of the enemy's forces. I could imagine the temptation being like a being that packed up and moved away after that. By God's grace it was over. That was 24 years ago.

Moses, of course, was thinking about a different type of "being stoned," though. The people were grumbling again about the lack of water. "What am I to do with these people?" I bet Moses felt like giving up. The Lord answered him, though: "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. 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."

It's cool that Moses had the elders with him, so they could be trained and discipled and learn first-hand how God will provide for their needs. It was simple and practical. I'm sure it helped lead the people with a plurality of leadership to guide and build confidence in the Lord for the people.

The place was then called "Massah" and "Meribah," because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" What's so lame about this is their memory was so quick to forget the MAJOR unprecedented provision and hand-of-God miracles that were performed among them. How could they so easily doubt that God was among them? One thing we forget, though, is this may have taken place over the course of several months or perhaps even longer. We tend to read the narratives of the Bible and think that each verse is happening in real-time like an episode of 24 or something.

Next we read about the people being attacked by the Amalekites. They went to battle with them and were victorious whenever Moses lifted his staff up in his hands. He was on top of a hill and it was noticed that when his arms got tired and he held it down that the Amalekites gained strength and started winning. I wonder if or how many Israelites died during the "arms down" phase? They brought Moses a rock to sit down on when he was tired and Aaron and Hur held his hands up for him. The Israelites won the battle and Moses built an altar so that they could remember this provision (maybe that would help them not grumble so much -- seing visual and "artistic" representation of God's work amongst them. They called the altar: "The Lord is my banner."

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at June 5, 2007 08:44 AM