Then Moses cried out to the Lord: what am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me. Moses brings the crisis to God with characteristic directness. Not a formal prayer, not an elaborate petition — what am I to do? The question is the prayer. Moses is at the end of his own resources, facing a community that is moments away from violence, and his instinct is to go to God with the problem rather than to manage it alone. The threat of stoning is real — the community's distress has reached the edge of violence. Acts 7:25 says Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The leader who was not recognized at the beginning of his ministry faces the same non-recognition at Rephidim: the people cannot see past their thirst to the God who brought them here.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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