Okay, now can you hear me? The scripture this morning is from Exodus chapter 17 verses 1 through 7 The whole Israelite community set out from the desert of sin traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded They camped at refedim, but there was no water for the people to drink So they quarreled with Moses and said give us water to drink Moses replied Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test? But the people were thirsty for water there and they grumbled against Moses They said why did you bring us out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock dive thirst the Lord answered Moses then Moses cried Out to the Lord what about to do with these people?
They're almost ready to stone me 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 I will send I will stand there before you by the rock of Ed Harab strike the water 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 And he called the place Messa and Maribah Because the Israelites quarreled him because they tested the Lord saying is the Lord among us or not the word of God for the people of God Thanks be to God Probably not at all, but I know that we can find ourselves in this story this morning You see there was something going on in this Israelite community as I Went around in the wilderness with an old man and a staff nothing fancy just a just a staff and they followed him Followed him in this particular story about three months I wonder if y'all would follow me for three months as I let us through wilderness stages with just me and I trust He little staff and how long it would take? Before the grumbling and griping ensued How would it take for us to follow one another into the wilderness into the places that are unknown before we began to get upset with one another Before we began to say who is responsible and who is going to fix it? Because we are pre creatures of comfort And when we want something we want it and so these four people I can't help but relate to the story because what has happened is they have been Journeying from Egypt to Sinai and they've been led from one place to another They're following the leader in a sense. We all know that game follow the leader Moses is leading them according to the way in which the Lord commanded Which is a key point that gets missed this wasn't Moses is doing Moses was being led by the Lord and they were going from place to place Really kind of camp to camp and when they would get to these places along the way They would have water and they would drink there So they would go and they camp there and there was water and they go a little more on this journey And they camp and there was water and they would go along with the journey and they camp and there was water until they went along the journey And there was no water and they became an issue then it became uncomfortable because what they were used to was no longer And they were aggravated now what we need to understand is that we can identify with these people because what they are struggling with Where their complaint really comes from is the fact that these people really didn't know what it meant to trust in the first place They didn't know because they had been enslaved they have been in bondage for the last several hundred years And you're taking these people who have been treated like dirt because Pharaoh was not really the greatest person And he's making them work hard and he's disrespecting them and they've been brought down spiritually emotionally mentally physically all the things and now all of a sudden These people have been set free on this new journey and they're traveling from place to place and Moses is essentially saying We're gonna trust God every step of the way And so they're trying their best to trust because it really is foreign to them And they've been trusting and God has been providing but the minute God doesn't provide their trust fails That's what happens to us the minute something changes and God fails to provide as quickly as However, we want it we begin to waver You see we find ourselves prisoners of our past two We find ourselves going back to to those things that that shackle us because it's comfortable And they weren't only struggling with their past, but they were struggling more with their present You see they were struggling to not only identify the grace and murder But now he's not how about stuff that this is all true and real But what is beautiful in the story and I love the Old Testament We're gonna spend a couple of weeks looking at Moses and I'm calling these moments with Moses What it means to have gratitude in these situations where everything seems so difficult and barren and dry and unproductive But God in his infinite goodness He stages a miracle in this moment when people are upset when they're complaining when there's no water to drink when they're thirsty And they're tired and they're put out and they just want something to feed them It says in verse 5 through 6 the Lord answered Moses Now the Lord is answering Moses because as the leader he cries out says what am I gonna do with these people?
You know, they're eventually gonna come after me. I Hate to tell y'all that that's what happens Anybody in here leader anybody in here ever been a boss? When it all comes down to it goes back to that. Yeah, so when people are complaining Moses replies, why are you testing the Lord and then Moses cries out?
What am I gonna do with them? They're gonna stone me they are coming after me And so the Lord answers Moses You said go ahead of them take a few elders. We want this to be public We want the elders there We want them to know and to understand you take that staff You know that thing that you struck the Nile with and I want you to take it and I want you to go before them You hit that rock Moses. I know Moses thinking really bad Well hit the rock.
They're gonna stone me with a rock. Oh, the irony Because I want you hit that rock water will come out of it and the people will drink Now you may be wondering why I have my little staff this morning is because we need to see that some things whether they seem Significant or not or significant in God's plan You see the staff that Moses carried may have him for his old age to help him up in down the hillside It may have been to ward off snakes and things in the in the path it may have been to wrangle in lost sheep and lost people lost kids You never know but either way Moses had one and it is significant to know that this is the same staff that God would speak to Moses and say Before the people watches I turned it into a snake in your very hands It was what he used to convince the Israelites once before that the God of their ancestors had heard their cries and had sin a deliverer It's also what helped Moses to have confidence and to trust in God It's what he used to turn that Nile River into something that was life-giving with water that flowed into something that was bloody and deadly You'll remember that one that was kind of a strange story, but now the staff would come and it would produce a different refreshing water And it makes me think when God is able to provide water in an instance why he makes us go through the steps to get there It's called faith and obedience. It's called trust. It's trusting that God is who he says he is and that he will do what he says It's understanding that if God was with him from camp A to camp B to camp C to camp D Then he's going to be with them at camp E even though they weren't seeing it yet You see we too have these rocks in our lives that are causing us to not see God's full plan I want you to hear that again.
We have these rocks in our lives Spiritually that are hindering us from seeing God's real plan Sometimes those rocks that stand before us look like pride and sometimes those rocks stand before us as envy and jealousy And sometimes it looks like bitterness and anger and guilt and shame and we have these rocks that are all in front of us Disobedience and busyness and distraction and God's saying strike the rock and let me pour out Because what ultimately comes out is God's presence. I want you to hear this Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hands and go Because I'm gonna go stand there in front of you I'm gonna stand on the rock at horrib and when you hit the rock water will come out of it and the people were drink You see what they were failing to realize is the Israelites didn't need that physical water as Much as they needed the presence of God friends We all need a lot of comfort that we think we need we need the presence of God What what keeps us from true worship? What is it that drives us away from truly being present with God? It's these things and whether we want to admit it or not They're there and they hinder us from being able to say no I want to walk in the presence of God.
I want all that God has for me We may not be able to strike a rock today as Moses did and received that that water that we thirst so much for But we are able to call on the one who gives us living water in the form of Jesus Christ He is that living water not to quench us just temporarily but permanently forever spiritually I love that Psalm 50 15 says call upon me in your day of trouble call upon me when you're in need call upon me when you're hurting trouble It's different for each of us, but he said call upon me in your day of trouble And I will rescue you and you will honor me Because ultimately it is not about us But what it does is it always comes back and points to God you see Something about this story that will miss if we don't read it carefully is that there was no happy ending? We like happy endings we like comfort we like knowing that everything's gonna be okay because I've done all the work and everything's gonna Be right I struck the rock I've done the things I want what I want But there is no ah-ha faith moment there is no repentance. They're just a promise the people will drink God is still the one activating initiating and making the promises Did you catch they will drink they didn't drink right away the story doesn't say that they ran in herald their mouths open at the rock And their thirst was quench and all the griping in the brombling it ceased. No, it says they will drink friends for us Christ is that solid rock?
He is the rock that was struck and poured out for you and for me for all of our Transpressions the one and whom we know that living water does flow When we are brought into these waterless and desolate places in our lives We thirst but we must thirst for God and his presence Something that we can't lose sight of that even in the story would go all the way back to Exodus in the beginning If they set out as the Lord commanded Y'all God was always tangibly evident in their journey We are so busy and distracted that we will miss his presence in the journey God was tangibly evident in the manna that had been received on their behalf He was with them as a pillar of cloud and fire which guided them to the various parts in their journey He was also there in the verbal promises of you will drink But they were failing to remember that where God leads God provides I Think sometimes that we are the same people as the church as individuals Whatever we fail to realize that where God leads God provides and it's easier for us to grow and bright when things aren't going Our way then to stand on faith and say no God will provide he will provide in spite of our disobedience He will provide in spite of our lack of participation God will provide because God does what he says he will do The greatest thing we can do is to be a part of it to allow him to use us to be fully present in these things But like I said, how could we blame these people for struggling? They were going from judgment and punishment and a heartache into hope into redemption into freedom It's easier to be shackled by something than it is to walk into freedom So how are they to go? How are they to go the rest of the journey? With that baggage in their hearts We'll get water at the next rock we wish they would But that reality of real life is there that reality of deep thirsty pains the reality of trust and mistrust the reality So friends how are we gonna walk in the reality of this life with a sense of gratitude?
Surely Moses when hopefully Moses says thank you Lord because they didn't stone me to death Hopefully the people said thank you God. You really are gonna do what you say you're gonna do Maybe it was God saying thank goodness these people are finally getting it Slowly but surely but we're already in this story Do we even have our stabs in our hands and are we ready to say Lord strike the heart of bitterness so that I can see you more clearly Lord strike the heart of regret and shame and guilt so that I can receive your grace and your redemption and your forgiveness and your love Lord strike the heart of jealousy and bitterness so I can walk in the truth of who you have called me to be What is standing in our way friends? That biggest rock is gonna be our pride What is standing in the way because the Lord is saying just as he was Years and years ago to those people he is still saying to us I am the giver of life. I am the sustainer of all things.
I am creator of the creation I am the sustainer of all that I have made But I think he's waiting on us to acknowledge that part that God is who he says he is he will do what he says He will do and that we will drink It may not come on our time line and in our terms but God will He will we trust in this we know because the first thing that we can rely on in our spiritual lives As christians is knowing Christ Christ assumed our sin Took it to the cross on our behalf because God did what he said he would do He made a way out for you and for me and for others So then we didn't have to bear the weight of our own sin that we didn't have to suffer the judgment that we so rightfully deserve When I think about rocks and I think about things that stand in our way Praise god that that rock didn't stand in the way on the third day And if god is going to roll stones out of the way so that christ can be resurrected as it was told he would be Then don't we believe that he can move stones out of our lives that keep us from being fully present with him So that we can understand that God will