Wilderness "Wonderings"...

The new chaplain at school chose a theme for the weekly chapel services this semester.  Chapel is a voluntary activity, and each week a different person usually gives a short homily.  As the theme is "wilderness," the texts for reflection follow the experiences of the Hebrews when they entered the wilderness, after being delivered from slavery in Egypt.  The texts start in Exodus.  And since I was asked to speak this week, the text was the following - Exodus 15: 22 - 27.  For those of you who don't have it memorized (who does?!), here it is...
²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.^[a]) ²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
²⁵ Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
There the LORD issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. ²⁶ He said, “If you listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”
²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.   (NIV)

While preparing, I couldn't help but think I was doing some "wilderness wondering," perhaps akin to the "wilderness wanderings" of the ancient Hebrews.  Meaning, meandering, going about without much sense of what would be next, uncertain, and trying not to be too stressed out about that.  That brought me to the text...the people have left Egypt now.  Their bondage broken by the power of God…following the one tapped by God to lead them out.  You’d think they’d be euphoric.  No longer slaves, oppressed by the trappings of Pharaoh’s ego, pride, and wealth.  They’re free…we might expect singing and dancing in that wilderness…and in the verses before this text, that is, in fact, what we find.  Likely the oldest witness in all of Scripture, the Songs of Moses and Miriam show us the thankfulness and praise pouring-out from the people.  But then, enter the wilderness.  That place of uncertainty.  And what happens.  For 3 days, they’ve been walking and wandering...

• Without water!
• What they (and we all) know as basic necessity to sustain life is lacking
• This wilderness they’re in – it’s at a level of the worst kind, as they struggle for mere survival
• So, what do they do?
• Lash out…groaning and griping…complaining

Now, we understand that, right?  Perhaps we’re not altogether unfamiliar with their feelings when we consider our own “wilderness” experiences.  Granted, perhaps ours have not been as dire as life and death, but it sure can feel like it when we’re in it...When a personal relationship is a mess, or we feel alone in a new place (like college, or a new job, or a new team, or a new apt., or differences in our family configuration), or we simply have too much work to do, or things to accomplish and not enough resources to meet those needs…when these things happen, we might just feel like those Hebrews in the wilderness.  Wanting to groan and gripe and complain.  And if we're honest, really, honest, we don't just want to whine and complain, we do it!  Truer for me, than I like to admit!!

But here’s the good news…the story does not end there.  God – through Moses – provides.  God sees them through this real suffering, real struggle.  And here’s the really cool thing – it’s not some “lightning bolt,” “grand fireworks,” “supernatural/beyond our world and reality” – kind of event.  No.  God uses a piece of wood.  Nothing extra-ordinary, nothing otherworldly about it.  A piece of wood.  It’s nothing special in and of itself.  Instead, it’s made special, made sacred, through God. 

So, why do I find that good for me?  For us all, I think? Because in our very own wilderness experiences, just maybe God acts and will act in the same plain ol’ way.  That’s the unbelievable, amazing, gracious thing about it…God acts in the everyday, routine, common, ordinary with everyday, routine, common, ordinary things and people.  I think that just might be a good word from this story.  Yes, God indeed provides/heals/makes whole/restores in the wilderness AND God does so through all that is around us, before us, and with us.  That’s pretty comforting, I hope.  And empowering…empowering us to hang in there in those times and trust the goodness and mercy of God that surely will see us through, in whatever ordinary means and ways God sees fit.  May we all open our eyes to see where and when that happens. 

That was the gist of the "wondering" I thought about in considering this text and participating in chapel.  If it offers a word for you, too, terrific!  And if not, or it's less akin to your worldview and thinking, well, thanks for reading nonetheless.

To whatever "wondering" is next in these posts...