We assume that sailing through life with ease is a sign that God is with us. We assume that when a tragedy happens, God was looking the other way. We assume that when we find ourselves out in a desert standing in the middle of nothing but dirt and rocks, we assume that there has been some mistake.
Never assume anything.
Hard times and difficult circumstances are not an argument for the absence of God in our lives; Hard times and difficult circumstances are in fact, an argument for the presence of God in our lives.
God has taken the Hebrews out of Egypt by crossing the Red Sea and had them take a right turn out into a harsh desert. If they had turned left they would have been in the Promise Land in about three days – but they turn right into the desert. God has led them to the desert, and that is without a doubt. Now, God is having them move again. They are moving to a new camping spot. The pillar they follow stops at Rephidim – The worst possible place to camp. You’ll notice that in verse one it says that there was no water, which means there was no oasis. It means there was just rocks and dirt and more rocks and dirt. The people are exasperated, even a child could pick a better spot to camp than Rephidim!
If we look back a couple of chapters, we see that a pillar of cloud guided them by day and a pillar of fire guided them by night. Ex. 13:21 “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” This pillar appeared as they were crossing the Red Sea and it stayed with them the entire time they were in the desert. Whenever the pillar moved they followed. Whenever the pillar stopped, they stopped to camp. So, here in verse one the pillar is on the move and the whole community (about two million) follow it. God is showing them the way.
Ok, let’s stop right here. Have you noticed that before? See, we have seen the people complain in the last chapter and in this chapter that God is not with them….so, what’s with the cloud? Am I missing something? They have this pillar of cloud by day and this pillar of fire by night (which would have given some kind of light to the camp) and the Hebrews think this is normal? What are they thinking? How in the world can they just dismiss the cloud and the fire? I mean they step out of their tent at night and there is this huge pillar of fire outside the camp – there is no possible way they could miss it.
Further, we have seen that they receive manna, a bread like substance, every morning. Every morning they wake up, take stroll outside and there is the manna. Is that normal?
Was it normal to experience ten plagues without being harmed? Is it normal to cross a large body of water on dry land? Is it normal to be following a pillar of fire or a pillar of cloud in the desert? Of course not. So they have all of these abnormal miraculous things happening around them and still they doubt.
See, Meribah (verse 7) has a legal connotation. What is happening here when they complain is that they are calling into question Moses and God. They are asking, “is Moses our leader, is he really our authority?” They are also wondering if this God is so great? Sure He saved them, sure He can do some awesome things….but He has made some kind of mistake – two million people have stopped to camp where there is no water! So they complain against Moses and against God.
Why do they complain? Because they have a better idea. They have a better plan for their lives than God does. Their idea is to first find a place to camp that has water. The obvious. Then their second idea would be to turn left and go to the promise land where there is everything they need. Now that’s a plan and it is a plan that includes big blessings, so lets get on with it. So when they tell Moses (verse 17) “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” They are insinuating that they have, obviously, a better plan and that Moses’ and God’s plan stinks.
If I were God….How many times have you heard people say that? “If I were God I would have everyone love everyone else, eliminate war, eliminate poverty and win the lottery.” Yeh, that’s just what we need, some thirty five year old running the universe.
Have you ever thought that? Have you ever thought that you had a better plan for your life? I sure have, more times than I can count. Now, do I think I have a better plan when I am at the beach or when I am on vacation in Disneyland? Do I think that when I am holding my newborn child or when I am kissing my bride at our wedding? Are you kidding? Of course not. I always think I have a better plan for my life when times are hard, when times are painful, and when times look bleak.
Why do they think that they have a better idea? It is simple. They are thirsty – there is no water. They have a problem – there is no answer, and camping in a spot where there is no water is certainly not the answer. They can all see, as they look around at the dirt and the dust, that staying where they are is NOT the answer. They may not have the answer, but they know, the answer is certainly not where they are standing, they need to move on.
But remember what we saw last week: The people are going exactly where God wants them to go. God places them exactly where He wants them to be. God has lead them away from a place with abundant water to a place where there is no water. God does this to us too. Like the Hebrews here, God leads us away from the obvious, out into a desert – and worse, He stops. We look around and we don’t see the solution to our difficulties, we see rocks and dirt.
Even though these people have seen God provide again and again – they are in pain, they are thirsty, faint and they need an answer quickly – don’t we always need an answer quickly? But see, they see the end in sight. They logically know what will happen if they do not find water. They are aware of the circumstances and they know they need action now. So everything, everything else that has happened in their life, doesn’t matter – because if this current problem isn’t dealt with quickly – they are all dead.
We’ve all been there. We have an urgent situation. We pray, we plead, we pray again. But we don’t go forward. We stand there in the desert kicking rocks. Where’s God?
So you can imagine, they complain. Perhaps they are ready to pick a new leader, one who is smart enough to find water. We see Moses is worried, in verse 4 he thinks they are ready to stone him to death. They view the lack of water as God abandoning them and their cattle.
We see this in people’s lives all the time. Bad things happen. They get hurt, or a loved one is hurt. Very serious things happen, and do not get better, so people complain, they get angry with God and they turn their back on Him. They feel that if something like that could happen in their life, either there is no God, or God isn’t with them. Because they assume, like the Hebrews that hard times and difficult circumstances are an argument for the absence of God in our lives, when the reality is, hard times and difficult circumstances are in fact an argument for the presence of God in our lives. Assumptions are a poor way of looking at life.
Let’s look at verse 5. “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.” God asks Moses to step out in faith. God tells him to take his staff, the one that was there for each plague, the Red Sea and so on. Let’s be clear, this staff doesn’t have some special powers, God is the power, not some stick. The staff is a sign of his authority and leadership. Moses takes the elders as witnesses. They will witness that what is about to happen is not natural, but supernatural.
They walk outside the camp. Everyone is in a bad mood. They are worried, thirsty and have absolutely no idea what will happen next. Man, God piles on the stress. People are worried for their families, their livelihoods, their very lives – and God let’s them sweat. Also notice that God does not step in and defend Moses. Everyone feels that they are on their own. Everyone hates the place they are in. Everyone wants it to be over. No one is happy. What a miserable walk.
Unbelief is impatient. Unbelief is quick to come to a conclusion. Unbelief makes assumptions.
Faith. Faith is patient. Faith endures. Faith ponders, faith waits on the answer.
So Moses stands at the rock of Horeb and God tells him to strike it and He will bring out water. So in the sight of unbelief, in the sight of better ideas, in the sight of folks ready to go their own way, Moses strikes the rock with his staff – and the cool water gushes forth.
Do the elders cheer? Are the elders stunned? Do the elders high five Moses? We are not told – because their reaction doesn’t matter. Why, because in the middle of their dire situation, the situation where they looked around and saw no way out, AND assumed that God had abandoned them – in the middle of their worst hour, God was there. The reaction of the elders does not determine the validity of God. The reaction of the people does not determine the validity of God and my or your reaction to God does not prove the validity of God or not. God is God. He is here, He is powerful, He is awesome.
How could have God place me in this dire situation? Strike! Cool water.
This isn’t how life is supposed to be? Strike! Look at it flow.
I have a better plan. One that gives me blessings. Strike! Out gushes the water.
I hear no answer, I cannot move forward, I only see things getting worse.
Strike! Strike! Strike!
You think God is not here? Well check this out! Bam! Cool water.
You think God has abandoned you? Bam! Jump right in.
Wait a second. They are still stuck out in the desert.
Did God fix things? No. They are still out kicking rocks, they are still out in a dry dirty place. But they have been refreshed. How good must have that water been? Remember when Jesus turned the water into wine and everyone raved. This water must have been sweet. I want you to note that the water came out of a rock, not a rock out cropping, not the ground, but out of a rock. In other words, the water came out of a place it could never have come out of. It was an act of God – they should be used to this by now.
Like the manna, God gives them water to make it through their desert experience. God doesn’t take them out of their desert experience, but He provides for them during their experience. Are you catching on here? Do you see what God is doing in their lives? Can you imagine what God is doing in your life?
Let me make it clear for you: God has placed you where you are right now – and it is dry, harsh and not fun. God put you there. God will NOT, will NOT and I will say that again, God will NOT just fix things for you. God has you where you are for a purpose. He will provide for you to make it through this time, but you know what, dry times can last a long time.
I say all that because that is reality and we need to see reality. God has bigger issues in mind for us. God may place us in the desert, but He will see us through. We want action now. God, He does things His own way.
1Pet. 1:6 "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
We find it very difficult to believe when things are not going well. God reveals his power in circumstances where He appears absent.
Imagine the shock. Imagine the crazy rush. They are saved for another day.
Now there is more to this than meets the eye. This is not just a rock. This is not just an answer of mercy for a thirsty people. This act of Moses, this stricken rock is the very presence of God.
1Cor. 10:1 “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
Did you catch that? The rock was Jesus Christ.
Rev. 22:1 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
Rev. 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
Rev. 21:6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
God comes down, in the midst of his people, God, in the person of Jesus Christ provides.
Psa. 95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Remember, Jesus has always existed. He has always been. There has never been a moment, ever, without Jesus. God is triune – Father, Son, Holy Spirit and He is triune throughout the Scripture. He never changes. And here we see not only a rock giving water to a thirsty people, we see a vision of the future for all of us. See, we get life, true life, eternal life, from the person of Jesus Christ. Awesome.
God leads the people of Israel to the brink of thirst – and provides.
They thought, they assumed, they were on their own. They thought, they assumed they had a better plan. They thought, they assumed this was the end. Never assume anything.
God, in the book of Deuteronomy reminds the people of Israel that they are not alone. He reminds them that even in the worst of times, even in the driest desert, Even when we see no way out, God will see them through.
You and I need to hear this too. We want God to come and fix things, just make things better. But you know what, that will make us weak, and even more, if God came and fixed things, we would never experience the true, awesome person of God. How shallow would that be?
Deut. 8:15 “He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”
Here you are, in place you don’t want to be, in a place you want to be rid of….But let me ask you this: Is God precious to you? Is God a precious thing to you?
Adversity is not an argument for God’s absence, but for his presence.
Adversity is when God’s presence is most precious to us.
May you come to understand, may you come to experience, may you come and drink of the waters….may you find the presence of God as a precious experience.
