Exodus 17:1-7
Obey Your Thirst?
Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg
September 25, 2005
God always provides for his people. Most often his gracious provision comes to us surprising ways.
We often assume that happy people are the ones who God has really provided for. You know the people I mean: the people with no cares, the people who have it all, the people who are vibrant and healthy, the people who have somehow managed to take care of every need by themselves. These are the kinds of people we see on Ralph Lauren commercials or in L.L. Bean catalogs. Of course, such people have to have a dog with them, and it has to be the right dog, a Golden Retriever or a big Black Lab or maybe even a Labradoodle. I’m beginning to wonder why people who have no worries never seem to own Chihuahuas?
We expect to find that God is only working among such happy, carefree people, but such happiness is an illusion that masks deep suffering and a longing for more, a longing that cannot be satisfied by having the right shirt, sheets, dog, bank account balance, or spouse. The Kingdom of God unmasks this illusion and exposes it as empty and void. Happiness is no indication of God’s presence, for God’s gracious, surprising provision does not appear when his people lack nothing but when his people are most in need.
Take the people of Israel as an example. They had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years before Moses came on the scene. With their very own eyes, they had seen the plagues that God sent on Egypt, and they had known the wonder of crossing through the Red Sea. They had seen God’s mighty hand at work. They were happy. Their lot in life had suddenly changed for the better, and they had no doubt that God was on their side, for they were no longer slaves; they were free.
Their happiness and euphoria lasted 3 days. For 3 days they walked in the desert and found no water and when they finally found some water it was bitter and they cried out against Moses, and God showed Moses how to make the water sweet. After two and a half months the people started complaining for lack of meat. They blamed Moses and Aaron for bringing them into the desert to die, and so God sent them meat. It didn’t take long for the people to wonder if God was really with them. Surely, if God was with them, they wouldn’t be thirsty or hungry. God wouldn’t put his people in that position would he?
Exodus 17 relates to us the account of what happened to the people about 3 months into their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Three months doesn’t seem like such a long time, but it was plenty long for the people to have forgotten God’s presence in their midst. Things start out well enough for them. At the Lord’s command they move from the wilderness of Sin to Rephidim. They may have complained about water and meat during the previous three months, but they were still following where the Lord led them. What is important here is that the Lord was leading them on this journey. Moses did not just wake up one morning and decide to march through the desert. The scriptures tell us that the Lord led the people with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. It was the Lord who brought the people to Rephidim; and there was no water for them to drink.
Perhaps we can imagine something of the terror that struck these people. They had just marched through the desert and come to a place without water. Their very lives were at stake, so they went to their leader and said, “Give us water to drink.” On its surface this request doesn’t seem unreasonable. The people are asking for what they really need and they’ve gone to the one who is supposed to provide for them. But Moses says, “Why are you testing the Lord?” Moses identifies the fact that the people are really questioning God’s provision. Moses knows better than anyone else that he can’t make water appear, and so he rightly questions the people’s trust in the Lord.
So often things get tight in churches. Budgets aren’t being met, programming is lacking in certain areas, volunteers are hard to come by, children aren’t behaving as we think they should, adults are acting like children, the building is in need of repair, the worship isn’t contemporary enough for some, the worship isn’t traditional enough for others, and in the midst of all this the people wonder how on earth God has led them to this point. Inevitably, they come to the pastor or pastors and lay it all at their feet saying, “Fix it!” Some things can’t be fixed though. Sometimes we simply need to wait on the Lord. Like Moses, pastors cannot snap their fingers and make problems go away. When they do try to snap their fingers and work their pastoral magic, they often just make more problems for everyone.
Moses knows this, but the people get really thirsty. In fact in verse 4 they say that they’re dying of thirst, and we should believe them. They aren’t exaggerating or lying to Moses. There is no water, and they’ve been walking through the desert, and if they don’t get water soon they are going to die. They blame Moses for their crisis. He brought them out of Egypt; their impending death is his fault. We should recognize here that Moses is thirsty too. He’s probably wondering how he can survive without water. He’s also wondering what he’s going to do with these people. Knowing that he can’t snap his fingers and make water appear, Moses responds to this crisis by turning to the Lord, “What should I do,” he asks, “these people are almost ready to stone me.” Moses’ leadership is in question here; his very life is at stake.
What on earth are the people of Israel doing in Rephidim where there is no water? The existence of the entire community is at stake. The people were patient walking through the desert, thinking that water would be plentiful at their next stop. Moses was assured when first questioned by the people about the lack of water, but when it was clear that no one in the whole community knew where any water was going to come from, emotions boiled over. The people wanted to kill Moses; and Moses found himself pleading with the Lord for a solution to an insurmountable problem.
The Lord answers Moses’ plea. The Lord tells Moses to get his staff, gather the elders, walk ahead of the people and strike the rock at Horeb, for water will come out of the rock and the people will drink. Their thirst will be satisfied. I think that what strikes us about this is that water comes out of a rock. Scholars go to great lengths to explain how this could happen, but explaining how water could come out of a rock misses the central point of this story.
Notice what God says at the beginning of verse six: “I will stand before you.” The people have no answer for the problem they find themselves in except to seek Moses’ life. Moses can only cry out to the Lord for help; he too can provide no solution. The Lord’s solution to this problem is to be present with his people in the midst of their suffering and misery and to graciously provide for their needs. A lack of water makes the people of Israel wonder what they were doing in the desert; they lose their focus, but they are not alone. God is there before them, and the point of this story is the “gracious, surprising provision of God.”[1] (Childs)
God is always in those places that we least expect to find him. The people of Israel are remembered for their quarrelling and testing of God; but God was working out his good purposes in these people and he did not abandon them because of their behavior nor did he only lead them to happy, carefree places overflowing with water. We aren’t told why God led the people to Rephidim; but it is clear in this text that God was present with his people even in that forbidden place, and it is also clear that God made something out of nothing for them, quenching their thirst and proving himself to be faithful even when his people were faithless. So it is that in 1st Corinthians Paul can say that the people of Israel drank from the spiritual rock who is Christ, and that in drinking from that rock, they found God to be faithful even under the most trying of conditions.
Water was not the only thing the people were thirsty for. Yes, they needed water to survive, but their thirst was deeper than even they knew. Our thirst is even deeper than we know. It’s the same thirst that drove the disciples to follow Jesus when he said, “Come. Follow me.” It’s the same thirst that drove the woman who suffered from nonstop bleeding for 12 years to grab for Jesus’ robe in hopes of healing. It’s the same thirst that brought Paul to his knees on the road to Damascus. There is only One who can quench our thirst. He is the One who stood before Moses and the elders of Israel on the rock at Horeb and provided for their needs in a surprising, gracious way.
God will provide for the needs of this congregation in a surprising, gracious way. For over 100 years the Lord has used this congregation to proclaim His kingdom to the world. To be sure, this congregation’s journey has had high points and low points along the way, times of great encouragement and times of deep discouragement. Yet, in each step of the way God has been present, providing for the needs of this congregation. Are we concerned about the cost of keeping our buildings well maintained? Of course we are, but God knows what is needed for our buildings so that ministry can continue here, and God will provide what is needed. Are we concerned about our need for volunteers to staff our many ministries? Of course we are, but God knows how many volunteers are needed so that ministry can continue here, and God will provide what is needed. Are we concerned about the fractured relationships within this body that cause division and dissension? Of course we are, but God knows of this division and dissension, and he alone will provide what is needed. The people of Israel were thirsty, they needed water, and in a gracious and surprising way God provided for their needs; God will provide for the needs of this congregation too.
This story isn’t only about the people of Israel. It is about leadership too. Moses knows his limits and cries out to the Lord for help when his limits have been reached. There is a word here for your pastors as we seek to fulfill our call to serve the First Presbyterian Church of Newport. Friends, you probably don’t need to be reminded of this, but it needs to be said. Neither Bill nor I will save you or this church. The Lord has not called us to be messiahs or to snap our fingers and fix things magically. Rather, we have been called to walk with you and along side you, continually pointing one another to Christ, the only One who can bear our burdens.
We can be thankful too that pastors are not the sole authority in Presbyterian churches, for the Lord raises up elders and deacons and ordains them to positions of servant leadership in which they exercise their gifts for the good of the body. Remember that the elders accompany Moses when he goes to the rock of Horeb. He is not alone. Together deacons, elders and pastors lead our church as we seek the Lord, and always the Lord will raise up those with a heart to lead his people, and he will not leave these leaders without a gracious, surprising provision.
There is a word here too for those who have come to worship with burdens that are too much to bear. The people of Israel were a vast and numerous people, and as they camped at Rephidim each individual was overcome by thirst. As individuals they feared for their lives and their children and for the community. As individuals they wondered who would quench their thirst. As water poured out of the rock at Horeb, individuals scooped it up, quenched their thirst and found their God to be true and faithful. The gracious, surprising provision of God cannot be explained or predicted. It is found when the circumstance are most dire and freely given to the people of God.
Are you thirsty? Come. Discover the surprising, gracious provision of the Lord.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Brevard S. Childs. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary. Louisville: Westminster Press. 1976. 308.