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If you are ever a leader of men, you
will sooner or later come to a Rephidim. Moses did. We are distinctly told
that it was according to the Lord’s directive that the children of Israel
journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and pitched in Rephidim. The character
of the worker is as dear to God as the work he is doing. Do not be
surprised then, Christian worker, if you find yourself landed in Rephidim.
There are lessons to be learned of our own weakness to keep us humble before
God.
Few of us can stand great or
long-continued success. It is comparatively easy to walk in the Valley of
Humiliation, when our path is hidden and no one observes us; but to stand on
the height with none to rival, with nothing left to overcome, the wonder and
the envy of others - ah ha! This is a task in which the brain reels, the
step falters and the heart gets proud. It is easier to know how to be
abased than how to abound, how to be empty than how to be full.
It is in success that we are apt to
repeat the folly of Hezekiah in showing his treasures to the ambassadors of
Babylon or utter such nonsense as Nebuchadnezzar “Is not this great Babylon
which I have built, by the might of my power and for the glory of my
majesty!”
But whenever this happens where the
heart of man is inflated with pride and lifts itself up in self-confidence,
there is an end to its usefulness. God will not give His glory to another.
He will not permit His power to be employed for the inflation of human
pride. It is His solemn decree that no flesh shall glory in His presence.
Isaiah 10:15 – “Shall the axe boast
itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them
that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were not
wood.”
That is why many of God’s servants
who once did so well in His service, today are laid aside. They were
marvelously used of God till they were strong; but when they were strong
their hearts were lifted up to their own destruction. Oh, they still preach
the old sermons that once had the power of the Spirit in every syllable, but
there is no stir or shaking among the dry bones to which they preach. If
they examined their course they would find that they had commenced to trust
in the momentum of past success; and to think that somehow the draught of
fishes was due to their own fisherman ability, instead of being the direct
gift of the Almighty.
We can suppose that Moses was in
danger of a similar fall. The previous few months of his career had been an
uninterrupted line of successes. He had brought the proudest monarch of his
time to his knees. He had become very great in the eyes all. He had led
the greatest Exodus the world had seen or would ever see again. The parted
ocean, the submerged host, the song of victory, the fall of the manna, the
evidence of his statesmanship as a born leader of men – all combined to
place him in an unparalleled position of authority and glory.
Was it not from his own experience
that he wrote Deut. 8:11-17 - Beware
that thou forget not the Lord thy God . . . lest when thou hast eaten and
art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy
herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied,
and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and
thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of
Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and
terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and
drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the
rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers
knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do
thee good at thy latter end; and thou say in thine heart, “My power and the
might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.”
None of us are free from the
tendency to credit ourselves with our successes. It was for that reason Paul
gloried in his infirmities; finding in them perpetual reminders of his
weakness that kept him low enough for God to choose him as the platform for
the putting for of His might.
This is probably the reason God
brought Moses to Rephidim; to counteract and check all uprisings of
self-sufficiency; to teach him the narrow limits of his resources and
ability. “That he may withdraw man from his
purpose, and hide pride from man.” Job 33:17
All self-confidence must have
vanished when he found himself face to face with that infuriated mob who
broke through every barrier of gratitude or patriotism or memory of past
deliverances and with violence demanded water “Wherefore
the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink.
And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the
Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured
against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out
of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”
Exodus 17:2-3
How could Moses get water for them?
No wisdom or power of his could help in such a strait. Nothing that he
could suggest would meet the case. He was absolutely at the end of himself;
weakened to the point he cried out, “What
shall I do?”
It is a blessed position to which
the providence of God reduces us, weakens us in our self-trust. Were it a
brook, we could jump across it. Were it the thirst of a little child, we
might quench it; but here are two or three million thirsty souls! Would
anyone not see the limit of his sufficiency? We cry, “Who is sufficient for
these things?” We cannot make a revival, save a soul, convince a heart of
sin, and satisfy such parching thirst. And when we have reached the end of
self, we have come to the beginning of God.
We are brought to know ourselves
that we may be prepared to know God. Hear Him ask, “Whence
are we to buy bread, that these may eat? How many loves have ye?”
not because He needs information; but because He desires to bring us face to
face with the utter inadequacy of our supply and prepare us to better
appreciate the greatness of His power. So at our Rephidim the need that
abases us and drives us to God, reveals God.
“Thou
shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it.”
This is strange! A rock would seem the last place to choose for the storage
of water. But God’s cupboards are in very unlikely places. Ravens bring
food. Ravens? Cyrus lets the people of Israel leave Babylon. The Jordan
heals the leper. Meal makes poisoned pottage wholesome. Wood makes iron
swim. A Samaritan binds up the wounds and saves the life of a Jewish
traveler. Joseph buries the sacred Body in his won new tomb. Ah, it is
worth going to Rephidim to get a good view of the fertility and
inventiveness of God’s providence. There can be no lack to them that fear
Him and no fear of lack to those who have become acquainted with His secret
storehouses.
Weakened humility
brings us to leave our self-sufficiency and trust His supply. That smitten
rock was a type of Christ. A Rock, indeed! – Stable amid upheaval,
permanent amid change. A smitten Rock! Reproach broke His heart and the
soldier’s spear brought forth blood and water that has issued to heal the
nations and quench their thirst. “They
drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ.”
There is no water that will so satisfy thirst as the crystal Rock-water. “Rock
of Ages, cleft for me.”
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