Exodus 17:3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

Had you happened upon the Israelites in this journey and asked them if they trusted God, they would probably have answered, “Of course we do … God brought us out of Egypt and has met our needs since.” And yet, now some 3,500 years after this all happened we look back at them and all the times they freaked out about simple daily needs and we see that their faith wavered a lot. I have to wonder … if we were able to step back and evaluate our own life from the outside, asking the question, “Are we trusting in God” or “Do we trust in God,” what conclusion would we come to? Perhaps this morning would be a good time to take a step back and honestly examine your life. Are you trusting in God? If not, then spend some time in prayer. God’s refining of your faith is a continuing process.

I remember as a child walking with my parents down the main stretch of road in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and looking in all the shop windows. There was one candy shop with a taffy stretching machine working away at a fresh batch of salt water taffy. I watched the machine in amazement as it stretched and stretched and stretched the candy. The taffy seemed like it would just stretch forever. At times the taffy would look thin, like it was going to snap, but then it would recover and continue to stretch. God stretches our faith and sometimes we waiver in that stretching. Don’t grow discouraged in the process, but allow your faith to be stretched because faith, like saltwater taffy, grows with stretching.