Testing and Resting

Deserts are relentless – and humans are not well-adapted to desert demands.

As the Israeli tribes travelled deeper into the wilderness of Sinai toward their promised home, their principal need was water. Once, when the need was especially acute, God told Moses to smack a nearby rock. To everyone’s astonishment, water gushed out. God knows the map-line of every underground

aquifer and how to provide for his people. That happened more than once as God proved his faithfulness to his people.  Israel immortalized God's power in poetry and song:

He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
He brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.
Psalm 78:15-16

But song alone can’t change character and Israel never seemed to pass the trust-test, complaining constantly, testing God’s patience, quarreling with God. Moses even named a couple of memorable landmarks Massah (i.e. Testing) and Meribah (i.e. Quarreling) to mark these low-points in their spiritual odyssey.

Notwithstanding Israel’s childish grumbling, Yahweh included respite in their itinerary: Then they came to an oasis, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water - Exodus 15:27.   Twelve springs in the desert – one for each tribe. Seventy palm trees – shade for every clan.

Three years ago my daughter Jennifer and I hiked in the Anza-Berraga desert near the Mexican border in California. Climbing a rugged dry river-bed it was hard to imagine the oasis awaiting us. When we arrived, the shade and refreshment were welcome beyond words.

The water of an oasis mirrors the face of God as ‘Shepherd’ who refreshes weary travelers and the deep thirst of their hearts:  He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. Psalm 23

If the barren desert depicts the challenging journey of faith, an oasis illustrates God’s sustaining grace even in harsh situations. Oasis is a metaphor for those occasions of spiritual renewal, refreshment and joy when God meets us in unexpected ways.

Pilgrim people will never reach home by setting up residence at Elim Oasis, but it is a wonderful respite along the way.

The life of faith is a rhythm of testing and resting, exercise and grace, fatigue and refreshment. The Exodus story is about the balance of Testing with Resting.