Exodus chapter 17

12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up— one on one side, one on the other— so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Surprise, surprise, the Israelites are complaining again in this chapter, this time about having no water. It is understandable how they were concerned about the lack of water, after all, it is essential for life, but yet again it demonstrates a lack of trust and faith in God. They didn't take the matter to God, pray about it, or anything, instead they went straight Moses, the leader of the people, and complained.

How often do we do this? If there is something wrong in the country, we complain about the government. If there is something wrong in the church, we complain about the leaders. Yet shouldn't we be praying instead? Asking God for help, for guidance? What about 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Gossiping amongst ourselves, complaining about the country, the leaders, the church, the minister/leaders, accomplishes very little except to get us all worked up and feeling misused, abused, ignored, taken for granted. There is a church here where come of the congregation have complained direct to the Diocese about the minister, without the minister even being told what the problem is. How can something like that ever happen in the church? Yet is has and probably does in many other churches where people feel aggrieved.

We need to spend more time with God and less time in idle chatter and gossip. One day, we will all be called to account for every idle word - do you really want Jesus to sit there and go through all the times we have been unkind, spoken less than the truth, gossiped about someone, complained, ignored the other person's feelings and carried on regardless? What about the times when we have just thought something? After all, thinking something is just the same as doing it as Jesus has said (Matthew 5:28).

Moses came right to the point when he asked the people why they were complaining and testing God. We do this all the time when we don't trust God, when we forget the times He has saved us, the things He has done for us.

Then the second part of the chapter deals with the battle against the Amalekites. I love the way Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms for him when he became too tired to hold them up himself. This is such an example of how the church should be, supportive, caring, loving, helping one another instead of backstabbing, gossiping, leaving everything to someone else to do. It's all about teamwork, about caring for our neighbour, not leaving someone to cope all on their own.