“From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Numbers 9:4-5

The Hebrew people of the Exodus were complainers.  They complained at every opportunity they could.  However, I think they had good reasons.  They simply wanted a comfortable life with some guarantees like regular supply of water and food; security and a home.  By this time in the Numbers narrative, they had been travelling for over twenty years and they were quite sick of it - as I would be, too!  I used to not really understand this particular text when I was in high school and college but the moment I began ministry, this text and the entire Moses narrative took on new meaning.

It seems to me that a life dedicated to believing and serving God is a life full of challenges.  God doesn’t make life easy for his followers.  Moses had a nice quiet life as a hermit in the wilderness before God came calling, and his life was a struggle from then on.  All the prophets of the Old Testament lived horribly challenging lives full of death threats, insults and poverty.  The New Testament continues the theme.  It includes the death of God’s own child and the struggle of Jesus’ own disciples and apostles.  

I would say doing ministry is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  I have had to learn of things in a hurry and often time, it is very painful.  The prophet Malachi writes of this life as the “refiner’s fire.” 

Yet, despite all the hardship, I can’t imagine a life without my faith in the God of the Hebrew and Christ.  This faith gives me more hope than anything I have and it gives me more peace and comfort more than anything I can attain.  It is these reasons I am willing to go through the “refiner’s fire” of this life.

Dear Lord of this life, give me peace when there is no peace; give me strength when I am worn and give me vision when I am in the “fire.”  Amen.