From the Deacon's Desk

Each day, I reflect upon a word or a phrase inspired by the readings of the day. I encourage you to do the same and perhaps incorporate that word or phrase into your daily prayer.

With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” (Numbers 21:4-9)

ALWAYS WITH US: In the time leading up to this grumbling, God, working through Moses, had delivered the Israelites from over 400 years of slavery, spared the lives of their firstborn sons, parted the Red Sea to allow them safe passage, destroyed the Egyptian soldiers who were pursuing them, made quail available for them to eat in the desert, and dropped manna from the sky.

Each time God saved them, the Israelites sang His praises.

But how quickly they forgot these many blessings from God. Now, when they did not like the lunch menu, their praises quickly became, “But what have you done for me lately?”

The mistake the Israelites made, and that we often still make today, was in thinking that God was only involved in the extremes of their lives. They only recognized His presence in the highest of highs, and considered Him absent in the lowest of lows. They praised Him for the highs and cursed Him for the lows.

They paid Him little attention otherwise. Why should they? After all, God is really only a factor in our time of need. When those times pop up, we call on Him for help. Sometimes He delivers and sometimes He doesn’t.

Is that how we view our relationship with God? He is only with us in the highs of our lives and abandons us in the lows? Where does He go in-between? Where is He hiding?

What we often lose sight of is that God is always with us. There are countless moments in our lives when God reveals Himself to us and is truly present.