Is the Lord among us or not??

Sunday February 24th, Exodus 17: 5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah (or Testing) and Meribah (or quarreling) because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" Massah means testing and Meribah means quarreling, not very flattering names. Reminders of what we are all quite capable of from time to time when things do not go our way and with our timing. But even with all the grumbling God sent Moses on ahead of the people. Out of the testing and grumbling comes the question, Is the Lord among us or not? Amid our grumbling and quarreling, is the Lord among us or not? Amid our fighting and fussing and killing and greed and Guantanamo is the Lord among us or not? The answer is yes. Not because of those traits and things, but in spite of those traits and things. We are all quite capable of walking into a room and curdling milk from 30 feet at times in our lives, some more than others. When we are in one of those moods, or someone we know is in one of those moods, remember the question, is the Lord among us or not? We live in a world of blessing, everything that is not chaos is from God. We can choose to dwell on what is not going right by our definition and timing, and fail to see the blessings of God. We have that right, but it is a selfish way to live.