Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’” – Exodus 16:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 4, 2012): Exodus 16

I am convinced that the most important job that God has placed in front of us is that we are to love. In the great commandment, Jesus gave us a two prong approach for our love - we are to love God and love each other. And maybe there is nothing else. Whatever we do, we do it out of a need to share and to show our love. If there is a second job, it is deeply related to the first – we are to encourage each other. This journey that we are on is long and there are many twists and turns, and many obstacles that simply get in our way. Our job, our mission, if we choose to accept it, is just to help each other get to the destination.

But if that is the job that God has laid in front of us, too often it is a job that remains ignored. Our culture has taught us to grumble and complain. One of the easiest ways of lifting our own sagging self image is to tear someone else down. By lowering them, we feel that we are elevated. So we take the easy road. We spread rumors, betray confidences, we tell people things that they really do not need to know just so that we can lift ourselves, prove to them how much it is that we know, and in the process we pull them down. God has given us one job, but we have ignored it as we follow what we think is an easier path. We even convince ourselves that our negative behavior somehow honors God. But the truth is that if our behavior is not grounded in love, it is not honoring to God.

But maybe the biggest form of self deception is when we convince ourselves that God is not aware of our behavior. That somehow he does not know. We complain about the way that things are, we tear down rather than build up, and somehow we expect God to be deaf to all that we say.

God had called Moses and given him a task. He had heard the prayers (and complaints) of the people. And he had set out to do something about it. He had showed his hand and his power at the crossing of the Red Sea. Miracles he held like lightning bolts – and yet the people were not satisfied. Still, they set themselves to grumble and complain.

So Moses sends a message. I wonder if maybe the words that came out of Moses mouth - the “come together because God has heard you grumbling” - sent a chill through the people. I wonder if the words send a chill through us, because what was true for Israel is no less true for us. God still hears our grumbling. It is the one piece of evidence that proves that we have ignored our mission and that we have forgotten how to love.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 17


The VantagePoint Community Church Message - The Price of Following - The Visible Community is now available on the VantagePoint Website - http://www.vantagepointcc.org/The_Price_of_Following___The_Visible_Community.htm