It was a dry place, a place the people most certainly would have perished in if God had not been their Source. He has delivered these people from slavery, from cruelty, made them rich, brought them out, and every time things get tough all they can do is whine and gripe. Oh, how I can look back on my Christian life and it pains me to admit I see myself in these scriptures. I might not have murmured to the whole congregation or to the leadership, but I have murmured and complained when things didn't go my way, or when they got hard. And I have had to repent, all the while loathing that thing in me that wanted to rise up and complain in hardship, even knowing these precious truths of God's word.

He was testing them so he could show them "I'm here. I'll take care of you. I know what you need and I have plenty of it. I love you. Just trust me. I know what is best for you. I know what will make you happy."

Here they were in Massah, and Meribah, and you know what those names mean?

God made it so obvious. He even gave the names of the people and places meaning to try to get the point across to this people in the last days who would dig in to his word. Over time, if you study the history of the Bible, and you know anything about the nature of God, you will understand he holds people accountable for what they know. For what they have been taught. For information they have access to. Just the very thought makes this typist very uneasy with a touch of Godly fear in her heart. I have the wonderful (free) Bible Software, E-Sword on my PC. It has such a wealth of information. I don't much consult the commentaries. I prefer the Holy Ghost teach me what the Word of God means. Occasionally, I have consulted them, and I do have them, but I rarely use them. I do, however, regularly and frequently consult the Bible Dictionaries. I became curious about the meanings of the words I didn't understand. And it has proved to be a blessing. It has enriched my study of my Father's word greatly. If you are unfamiliar with Times Square Church in New York City, smack in the middle of Times Square, this Godly ministry makes their preaching sermons available FREE of charge on the internet. And I listen to them. I burn them. It is some seriously wonderful sheep food. Better than Steak.  Their messages often echoe what I hear from the pulpit at my home church. Thank God he's the same in New York as he is in Tennessee. But that knowledge sobers me. I can honestly say I have been and am regularly fed well by the Lord. God holds you accountable for what you know or can know. If you refuse to pick up your Bible and read it, thinking you can tell God on that day "Well, I didn't know" or "I heard this but I forgot," it won't work.

How grateful I am to know the Holy Ghost is the One who brings these things to my remembrance when it is applicable. To keep me on the straight and narrow.

As I read on down to verse 7-8 in Exo 17, something else strikes me. As soon as Israel began to doubt that God was among them, Amalek, their enemy throughout the Old Testament History, came and attacked.

If you read about Amalek, you see at the end of this chapter that the Lord swore to wipe out Amalek, that he'd have war with Amalek from generation to generation. When we entertain doubts in our minds and hearts about the faithfulness and willingness of God to provide for our needs, that gives place for the enemy to attack and try to cause fear and unbelief to take root in our minds. Just as David used a stone to take down Goliath, we can take one promise of God, which is part of the Chief Cornerstone, and stand on that promise and take down the lies of the devil with it. He can't handle the word of God. Heb 4:12 describes the effect the word of God has. It's the only weapon that prevails against the enemy. We can't fight him with our flesh and blood or carnal minds. No match. But the Lord says the battle is not ours, it's his. We are just to stand on his word, let it teach us, and do our warfare in prayer and intercession, and take the authority the Lord bestowed on his saints who are faithful and sincere. Who believe him. Who obey him. Who are full of His Holy Spirit.

Today, in the world, Christians are living in an even worse wilderness. You can look at things many ways. There is a spiritual wilderness believers travel through. It's a time of testing, and God seems to back off to see if his children will believe and stand on what they had learned of him, on his promises. When they fall, he picks them up. When they sin, he forgives those who repent and ask. When they are afraid, he comforts, the Holy Ghost brings to their remembrance his promises, and reassures their hearts. Bears witness with their spirit that they belong to the Lord. That he's with them. But then, there is the wilderness of the world we live in. Sin abounds. Wickedness is gloried in by the greatest part of the population. People have not wanted to retain God in their knowledge, so they are rejecting his commandments, even the very mention of his name.

Out of curiosity, I did a Google search on the Holy Bible. One of the ministers at our church who drives a truck cross country reported when he went to get the Bible out of the drawer in his hotel room, someone had placed a warning sticker on the Bible, claiming it could be hazardous to your health and could even endanger your life to read this Book. He took a picture of it with his camera phone and showed us at church. I am trying to obtain a copy of that picture, which I will post here, when I do, along with the organization name of the group who placed the warning sticker on the Holy Bible. I came up with several articles from all over the world, where the Holy Bible is being systematically removed from hospitals, colleges, and universities. It is heartbreaking to read how people are scoffing at the only hope they have of being saved. Blindly, furiously, gleefully condemning their own selves to an eternity without the God they so happily and blindly vilify. They don't really understand what they are doing. They have no idea of the awful consequences of their choice. They have no comprehension of the wonderful, magnificent, breath taking love they are refusing to allow in their hearts and lives.

Here are some of the web links:

I found an article "University to ban the Bible"

In England, they are trying to Ban the Bible from certain places:

A murderer's death sentence by jury verdict was overturned when judges discovered jurors had consulted the Holy Bible in their hotel rooms in a Colorado murder trial. Christian Science Monitor reporting here.

It's been called "hate speech" and disallowed by pro-homosexual groups, and city councilmen and women in Pennsylvania.

After reading these articles, and seeing many more very similar in the Google search that I could click on, it was just too depressing to continue reading them. In Tennessee schools, in what is supposed to be the Bible Belt, the Gideons' aren't welcome anymore.

The science teachers are teaching evolution, as fact, not theory. I have to stay close on what my son is being taught so I can make sure he is not being brainwashed because he most certainly is being taught fiction as fact. Secular fiction. Evolution as fact.