“Water in the Desert” Text: Exodus 17:1-7
Elpis Christian Church
September 25, 2011
“Is the Lord among us or not?” I don’t suppose there could be a more important question ever asked. And that’s saying a lot given how many questions confront us in life. But when I think of all the ways, and all the circumstances, in which I and others I have known have asked that one, single, burning question – I’ll stand on what I’ve said. It’s the most important one ever asked. Because when you boil it all down – if the Lord isn’t among us – we are lost in the most profound of ways. And life, well, it’s just a merry-go-round or a roller coaster that takes us up and down and around and eventually dumps us out in a cold, empty, dead universe. Game over.
So – how good it is to answer the question in the affirmative today. God IS among us – God has ALWAYS been among us. God WILL ALWAYS BE among us. And that makes life a whole another thing. It makes if full and rich and ultimately meaningful. Not a game at all, but a journey with a wonderful destination. And that – is what the people of Israel had to learn. That is what WE have to learn. Unfortunately, too often, we learn it the hard way.
When I was a kid there were some lessons I just had to learn the hard way. How about you?
- There was the time I took a small, pearl-handled pocket knife to school, and, though it was against school rules, couldn’t resist whipping it out at lunch time and performing surgery on the paper cup on my lunch tray. You would’ve thought I had brought a loaded machine gun in and shot up the place. But – rules are rules. And soon I was in the principal’s office.
- There was the time – more than one time really – when my eyes were too big for my stomach – and I had to choke down food that my parent’s had paid for with hard earned money because I had insisted on ordering from the “adult” menu instead of wisely choosing from the “kids” meals.
- There were all the times I suffered through exams because I had spent too much time the night before watching TV instead of reading my notes.
And then, there are of course the adult times when I’ve had to learn things the hard way too. When I have said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, refused to do what I knew to be the right thing because of pride or ignorance or some combination of both. I won’t ask you to embarrass yourself by sharing the times you have failed in life like that – and I will thank you to not ask me for any specific examples from my own life. But you and I both know – we have plenty of occasions we could recall, don’t we?
Life, for all its joys, is full of hard lessons. Maybe that is why I like reading about the people of Israel and their wilderness wanderings. Because time and time again they are just so dumb. And time and time again, God is so good to them in spite of their stupidity. Maybe it somehow allows me to feel superior – because I can so easily see what the people of Israel could not see.
One of those times was the one I just read about. When Moses and the people quarreled with each other about whether or not God was with them in that desert. And when God and Moses proved once again that He was – by providing the thirsty people with a little refreshment from, of all places, a dirty old rock. Here the people have to, one more time, admit how little they understand about life and about God and about the glorious reality that he will never leave them high and dry in their wilderness wandering. Here they learn once again that even out of a place as unlikely as a rock in the desert – He can provide life-giving sustenance.
I’m sure they were grateful for the water when it came gushing out of that stone. But in a way, it was probably a little bitter to drink as well – because surely they weren’t shamed by their lack of faith. It’s easy to feel superior to them. To say, “Why didn’t you trust God?” But come on – are we any better? Don’t we have an equally astounding lack of faith now and then?
So that leads me to this. If the most important question we can ask in life is “Is God among us or not?” and if the life affirming answer is that He is – and that He has proved that time and again. How do we handle this recurrent, deadly, lack of faith that plagues us all now and then?
Today I want to suggest a couple of things. I want to suggest a couple of ways that when you are out there in the desert looking at all those dusty looking rocks that surround you – you can remember – God – the rock of our salvation – has some living water for you – right at hand.
In those dry, dusty, moments of weak or nearly non-existent faith – here are a couple of things I want you to remember to do.
- Remember you are not the only one to ever experience what you are experiencing.
- Remember that what you are experiencing – no matter how painful or frightening – is only temporary.
- Remember that you are never, ever, alone because even if every other person on the face of the earth were to abandon you – God never will. Remember that proves just how precious you are in God’s sight.
- Remember then, in light of that, how you have something ultimately valuable and unique to offer to this world. So get busy finding out what it is – and get busy doing it.
Do that – and I think you will soon find yourself moving out of your confusion, or your grief, or your anger or your cynicism or your lack of faith or whatever it is that is temporarily defeating you and holding you back in life.
Look at those unhappy, grumbling, desert wanderers in our passage today. They were struggling because they had failed to do each one of the things I just mentioned.
- They had forgotten that they were not the only ones to ever wander in need.
- They were so busy feeling sorry for themselves they couldn’t even recall how God had set them free from their slavery. They had fallen into the trap that there temporary condition was a permanent one; that God was nowhere to be found and that this Moses fellow had sold them a bill of goods and that they were all going to die. Most important of all – they had forgotten God’s promise that they were on their way to a promised land full of milk and honey.
- They had forgotten how precious they were to God. And so – it was easy to believe that they were easily expendable. And, because they were so easily expendable, they started to believe they had no purpose.
- And so – they were on the verge of despair – feeling hopeless, abandon, and worthless. And that is when people die.
So, literally, thank God – that God stepped in and did something about it. Via Moses water was provided – but what was given was much more than just water. It was hope. And it allowed them to go on.
Now some will cynically say, “So what? That first generation of wilderness wanderers didn’t make it to the Promised Land! Only their children did!” And that is true – there was harsh price to be paid for those who consistently disobeyed and walked away from God. In a way you could say they learned the hard way about what walking away from God too many times can mean.
But – we mustn’t let that harsh truth blind us from the fact that ultimately that next generation did make it to the Promised Land. And from this people ultimately came the savior of the world. There were some harsh detours along the way – because God allowed Israel to suffer some consequences of their disobedience. But ultimately – a remnant survived – and God’s purposes were fulfilled. And we are here to tell the story and carry it forward.
I’ll repeat myself. WE can too easily forget what life is all about, how we fit into the larger picture, and start to believe we are alone. But if we can remember – if we can just remember – we are not the only ones to have ever thus despaired; we are not alone; and God will see us through if only we have faith in Him to do so – it will make all the difference in the world.
Some lessons we do have to learn the hard way. But the lesson of the smitten rock in the wilderness is that some seemingly rock-hard obstacles can by God’s grace become living water. Theologians have long understood that the smitten rock symbolizes the living Christ that smitten for us provides life.
It’s an obstacle for many. But for those who can believe its salvation.
Look around you. There are people – thirsty people – who feel alone and abandoned and hopeless. You know that God is good and loving and ever willing to provide strength and love and hope. Maybe in some small way you can help those thirsty people find a little something to drink. And maybe, just maybe, the next time your faith fails - and you are thirsty – someone will do the same for you.
“Is God among us or not?” Absolutely, He is. So in spite of any temporary difficulty or doubt - let’s all take a long, lingering, deep drink of that good news. And then let’s move on - to the Promised Land.
AMEN.
