A Whole New Perspective

"These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord and by which he showed his holiness." Numbers 20:13

A Whole New Perspective
By Rev. William Dohle

Do you know that every story you have ever heard and every story you tell has a central question it's wrestling with?

It's true.

The easiest stories to see this in are the parables of Jesus. Here Jesus wrestles with such questions as: "Who is my neighbor?" and "How does God rejoice over sinners' returning?" and "What does the Kingdom of God look like?" Here the stories are obviously about the questions.

The hardest stories to see this are the stories we tell each other. The fishing story that answers the question: "How much of an outdoorsman am I?" or the story of a date which still leaves us wondering "How romantic is that guy?" Or the story someone tells us which leaves us wondering, "Why did he tell me that?"

The Bible contains stories upon stories. Some stories are original, told just once. Other stories take a story told earlier and change it up, asking a different question, and changing the story forever. As a result you hear a very different story the second time around than you did the first.

Take the story of Israel at the waters of Meribah. This same story is also told in Exodus 15. The same thing happens there that happens here.

The Israelites are thirsty.
There's no water for the congregation.
They come to complain against Moses and Aaron.
God tells Moses to take the staff, assemble the congregation, and find water in a rock.
Moses does it and the people drink.

Same story, right? Well... not quiet. There's just one difference. The question here isn't "How did the Israelites drink?" The question here is: "Why didn't Moses go with the people into the promised land?"

That question leads to the differences in this story. It starts with a change in what God tells Moses. In the version from Numbers, God explicitly commands Moses : "Take the staff...and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water."

In the story in Exodus, God isn't so specific.

Here God commands Moses to talk to the rock. There he's not told what to do with the rock.

But in Numbers Moses doesn't listen to God. Remember the question the story is answering is: "Why didn't Moses go with the people into the promised land." Instead, in Numbers, Moses tells the people. "Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock." Then he strikes the rock twice with his staff.

What went wrong here? What was Moses' mistakes? The first is... Moses takes all the credit. WE shall bring the water out of the rock, he says, not God. The second mistake, and the one which addresses the central question in this retelling of the story, is how Moses brings the water out. Instead of talking to the rock, Moses strikes the rock!

Not a big difference, right? But one that answers the question. Why did Moses not go with the people into the promised land? Because... he didn't listen at Meribah and struck the rock with his staff.

Is that a good answer to the question? Maybe... Or maybe not. But it is the answer this story offers up.

So we see how the questions we ask fundamentally change the stories we tell. It does in scripture. And it does in life too. Listen closely to your neighbor, when they're telling you the story of their life. Listen to how they phrase their sentences. Listen to how they speak. Listen to what they're proud of, what they emphasize, and what they're not proud of. Listen to who's right and who's wrong in their story. Then you can hear what questions they too are wrestling with.

Are they fearful? Their stories will tell stories of fears realized. Are they hopeful? Their stories will tell positive tales. Are they nervous or confused? Are there questions of faith in their lives? These things can all be found in the stories they tell you.

Just like the story of Moses at the waters of Meribah, our stories change too depending on the questions we are struggling with. But, thanks be to God, his grace and love remain regardless of how we tell the tales of our lives. No matter what questions our stories struggle with. No matter how true or false our telling of them is, our God never leaves us. God never forsakes us.

Let us rest in his grace knowing that, no matter what happens to us, we are his beloved forever.

Almighty God, give us ears to hear the stories of others and discern the questions they are struggling with that we may join along with them, bear their burdens with them, and support them in their life in you. Amen.