From the Rock Water

 

 

Exodus 17:1-7

September 9, 2024

 

From the Rock Water

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”  But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”  So, Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.  And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?

Several Scriptures tell us 600,000 plus Israelite men crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt, and this is what “Got Questions” had to say on the subject.  “This phrasing is traditionally interpreted to mean just over 600,000 adult men, implying a total population about four times that size, or 2.4 million.”  And you have a small group of 1200 that shows up on Sunday, and they grumble, and by doing so, you wonder why God has put this burden on you?  I bet they have not planned a stoning party for you.

Clearly, they had a trust problem, and its focus was Moses, but it was God they refused to trust.  Moses is just like a pastor who knows he is not a hired hand and his only Master is God, not a bunch of adults acting more like two-year-olds who have ears that cannot hear and eyes that cannot see what the Spirit is doing.  That was the problem for Moses and Aaron, and not one thing has changed.  The culture of today is very different than then, but the hearts of people have not changed. As I stated in an earlier paper, I fight my desire to grumble; it is clear that we do not want God or man to mess with our plans.  

Now here is the problem, God loves you too much, not to mess with your plans, His plan for your life is not about you but Him.  He, the Truth, He is Love, and He is the one who saw you before you were and numbered your day.  Why then would you want to follow the folly of a culture that is built on lies and deception?  Jesus had this to say to us in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Any other claim is a lie, for Truth has spoken.  

Note: From Bob, Following Jesus is not easy, you will find that often those you love, reject you, and often they call you names like a religious person, and that is one of the nice ones.  I have found that the enemy of my soul brings up even from childhood my many sins.  He loves me to confess things about my person that are not true, like I am dumb, and when that does not work, he tells me I’m too smart to buy into the Truth in the Scriptures.  His favorite is you deserve, and when that does not work, he talks about your little worth, but he is a liar and the Father of lies.  So, I’ve learned when I heard those messages, to run to Jesus, for it is not from Him, and I am redeemed and God has stated that He does not remember the sins of His saints that or confessed.  So that only leaves one source, the devil, and his demons.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice