Journey to Promise: Water From The Rock (Exodus 17:1-7)

 Sermon for Milledgeville and Centenary UMC

[Title Slide]

Journey to Promise: Water From The Rock (Exodus 17:1-7)

Tourist spot in the Sinai Desert (Rephidim)
where the miracle of water from the rock is remembered

On the run from the police, a man headed into the desert. [Slide] Very soon, he runs out of water and is extremely thirsty. He sees something far off in the distance. Hoping it’s an oasis, he starts running towards it, only to find an old man selling neckties. [Slide]   

'Hey you, do you have water?' pants the criminal.

The old man replied, “No, but would you like to buy a tie? Only $5!”

Desperate and frustrated, the criminal shouted, 'You moron! I’m thirsty!! Do I look like I need a tie? I should kill you right here!" 

'There's no call for threats,' said the old man. “If you continue over that hill for about 3 miles, you'll find a restaurant with great food and all the ice cold water you can drink. Good luck!”

Muttering in disgust, the criminal staggered away. [Slide] Several hours later he came crawling back towards the necktie stand and collapses.

"Everything ok?" Asked the tie salesman.

Gasping in thirst the criminal said, "They won't let me in without a tie..."

 

The Hebrews are thirsty again! They are so upset they contend with Moses. [Slide] That’s like saying they dragged him into court. They are having words with Moses, not simply grumbling.

 

Poor Moses cries out to God, “What am I to do with these people! They are ready to kill me!” God instructs Moses to take his staff and strike the rock upon which the Lord is standing. Moses did just what God instructed in the sight of Israel’s tribal leaders.

[Slide] The scripture doesn’t tell us, but we assume water gushed forth and the people’s thirst was quenched.

 

The place was known as Rephidim, which means rest. After three of these complaining stories in a row, we might, like God, wish that the Hebrews would give it a rest. They are testing God’s patience. They doubt that God is with them, since they are suffering thirst. [Slide]

“Is the Lord with us or not?” they asked.

 

It’s easy for me to poke fun at the complaining Hebrews. I’ve never experienced extreme thirst. Medical experts say that one can only last 3 to 7 days without water, depending on climate conditions and one’s level of activity. [Slide] The body loses water rapidly. Your mouth gets dry. You grow faint. Dizziness and confusion are common. Once hydration levels are dangerously low, your body stops sweating, your internal temperature rises, and your organs begin to fail. Your kidneys shut down. Poisons in your blood increase. Your muscles stop functioning properly. Finally, your heart stops beating.

 

[Slide] The Hebrews are in a dry, hot desert. Temperatures in the Sinai desert are in the 80s during the day. Walking in the sun in an 80+ ^oF desert will lead to rapid dehydration. Of course, they are desperate and anxious when they demand that Moses give them water to drink.

 

[Slide] Scarcity impacts people not just physically, but psychologically. One develops tunnel vision, hyper-focused on what they do not have. They can develop a scarcity mindset. In the Church, when resources are scarce, congregations can develop a scarcity mindset. We call it church mouse thinking. Congregations pull back on everything, offering only crumbs to their communities.

 

 

 

When times are lean, you have to make tough decisions to curb expenses. It’s hard not to adopt a scarcity mindset and feel anxious about the future.

 

[Slide] Israel endured incredible times of challenge. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and their temple. Their king, priests, and nobles were dragged away into exile. Defeated, they suffered oppression under their conquerors. Psalm 137 says that Israel “wept by the rivers of Babylon” as they remembered Zion. Their home was devastated. Their wealth and their property were lost. God’s dwelling place on earth was torn down to its foundations.

 

Though they had been unfaithful to God, God remained faithful to them. God sent them prophets to encourage them. God told them through Jeremiah,

 

[Slide] When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:10-11)

 

When Judah returned to Jerusalem 70 years later, they were a transformed people, humble before the Lord and committed to their covenant with God. They set out to rebuild the temple. [Slide] When they laid the foundation for the new temple, the people celebrated. But those who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple wept. God spoke to them through the prophet Haggai.

 

‘Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? How does it look to you now? Isn’t it nothing by comparison?’ Even so, take heart… I will also shake up all the nations, and they will offer their treasures; then I will fill this temple with glory.” “I will shake the heavens and the earth” says the Lord of Hosts. [Slide] “The silver and gold is mine…” “The future splendor of this temple will be greater than that of former times…” (Haggai 2:3-4, 7-9)

God is proclaiming His sovereign authority. There is nothing in heaven or on earth that is not at the command of our creator. All we are and all we possess belongs to the Lord. God does not have a scarcity problem.

 

The Lord owns the earth and all it contains,
the world and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)

 

The Lord can use anything in creation to advance His purpose on earth. God’s purpose is to increase the knowledge of His glory, righteousness and love. The prophet Isaiah foresaw a future of great peace when the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God.

 

[Slide] A wolf will reside with a lamb,
and a leopard will lie down with a young goat;
an ox and a young lion will graze together…

 

They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord (Isaiah 11:6, 9)

 

[Slide] Hear the good news! There is no scarcity with The Lord. When we are   in His mission, faithfully witnessing to the gospel of Jesus Christ, God will supply what is needed. Jesus commands us to go and make disciples. [Slide] When we comply, God will supply! God will shake the earth and heavens for us. His provision will fall like manna from heaven, or like water from the rock!

 

[Slide] The Hebrews, desperate for water and ready to stone Moses to death, watched as Moses took with him some of their tribal leaders. Moses carried his staff, the very same staff through which God had worked His amazing wonders in Egypt. That staff saw them through the Red Sea. Now Moses raised the staff and struck the rock, just as God had instructed. The Hebrews only saw their thirst, their scarcity. They were falling apart because of their tunnel vision.

[Slide] But Moses saw the Lord standing upon the Rock, ready to quench the thirst of His people. In faith, Moses struck the rock and watched God work!

 

Yes, the people tested God in the desert with their fearful scarcity minded behavior. He heard them doubt whether He was with them or not. And yet God remained faithful, ready to provide what is needed for  His anxious and thirsty people.

 

On your journey through life, perhaps you have experienced times that were lean. You had to depend on faith to get you through. I praise God that I’ve never endured a day where I had to go without food or water, clothing or shelter, or the love of family and friends. Because of God’s graciousness, I have everything I need. (Genesis 33:11)

 

[Slide] But I have gone through what some have called the dark night of the soul, when God feels absent. During some very difficult times in my journey, I have wondered, “Is God with me or not?” Even though my pain and fear spoke loudly, and I could not sense God, God did not abandon me. He will never abandon you. God uses our trials in life to perfect us. Just as the Lord used the exile to perfect His people, just as He used the challenges of the wilderness to shape a nation ready to receive the Land of Promise, The Lord our God will use our times of scarcity to grow our faith.

 

[Slide] Some in the wilderness refused to be clay in the potter’s hand. They all died in the desert, never to receive the promised land. The Lord called out through the psalmist,

 

For forty years I was continually disgusted with that generation,
and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray;
they do not obey my commands.’
So I made a vow in my anger,
[Slide] ‘They will never enter into my rest.’” (Psalm 95:10-11)

 

Reflecting on this story of Israel’s contention in the wilderness, the author of Hebrews called to the church,

 

[Slide] We must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:11)

 

Moses renamed the place Massah because they tested the Lord and Meribah because of their contention and strife with him. But remember the name of the place was Rephidim… rest. God is calling us to lay aside our anxieties and enter into His rest through faith.

 

[Slide] God stands upon the rock of our scarcity-minded fears, ready to bring forth life-giving resources to meet our need.

 

May the Lord grant us grace to fully trust Him in all our journeys.