Moses
cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready
to stone me.”
Exodus 17:4
Part
of Moses’ education in his role as Israel’s leader had been a forty-year course
on leadership, a course that could have been called “Shepherding 101.” Moses had
tended his father-in-law’s herds in Midian and, during that time, he had learned
plenty about taking care of sheep. Many of those lessons carried over into the
world of leading people such as the Israelites.
However,
during those forty years in Midian no sheep had ever picked up a stone to throw
at Moses, their shepherd! In that way, sheep are more well-behaved than
people—and Moses didn’t know what to do with the Israelites who wanted to stone
him.
However,
he did know what to do next: call on the Lord. In our reading today we see
Moses’ distress signal to the Lord, a signal to which God responds with clear
instructions about what Moses should do. And Moses, who trusts God more than the
Israelites do, follows God’s instructions and leads the thirsty nation to
water.
Do
you know what to do when you don’t know what to do next? In other words, do you
trust God more than your own cleverness, strength, and insight?
In
this story, Moses the student becomes Moses the teacher. He teaches us to trust
God always—especially when our cleverness and wit are not enough.
Trust
is so hard for us, Lord. Help us, we pray. We believe; help us overcome our
unbelief. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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