Doubt or Depend?

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, March 8th, 2026:
Third Sunday of Lent

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​Exodus
17.3-7​

In the wilderness the people thirsted for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

One beautiful thing that came out of the early days of Covid was the resourcefulness of people to create meaningful connections. This was the impetus for a sister in Christ to start a Zoom group to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Although she cast a wide net and invited many people, it quickly became a core group of four women, praying together most weekday mornings. Although there may be only two or three of us most days, by the grace of God the same four women still gather in some form four years later. 

Psalm 95 is one of the psalms that is part of the Liturgy of the Hours:

“Today, listen to the voice of the Lord:
Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness, 
When at Meriba and Massah they challenged me and provoked me, 
Although they had seen all of my works.”

Although my sisters and I have prayed this psalm hundreds of times and I usually gloss over this part (it’s early in the morning!), I often have wondered, “Whatever the people did at Meriba and Massah to challenge and provoke the Lord, it must have been a pretty serious thing! What did the Lord do in response?’

Today’s passage from Exodus holds the answer. In short, the Israelites whom Moses had been chosen to lead through the wilderness acted like children. They wanted water, and they wanted it now! So they grumbled, they muttered, they confronted and likely fought and argued along the way. Certainly enduring the long journey without water tested them, but they began to distrust Moses and suspect that he would not be able to quench their thirst and, in turn, they doubted the power of God to provide.

God’s answer? To once again have the people witness Moses using his staff to perform miracles – this time by striking a rock at Horeb and providing water to drink. God does not chastise or punish; instead, He gives the very thing the people were crying out for. And, by His actions says, “Trust me. I know you are weary and have endured much, but you can trust me.”

Thousands of years later, His answer is the same for us: “You will have trials, you will be challenged, you will have to endure the wilderness, you will have heartache, you will long to have your soul filled by something you cannot name, you might even lose hope. Turn back to me, and I will give you everything you will ever need. Trust me.”

“I am the Living Water. Have I not shown my love for you? Have I not been a constant loving Father as you navigate the world? Do I not hold you in the palm of my hand?”

“You are my beloved daughter!”

“Trust me.”

“Trust me.”

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Patty Viscount

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