EXODUS: GOD PROVIDES Grumbling Exodus 15:22-17:7

“GOD PROVIDES” is the title we’ve given to our summer sermon series on Exodus and those two words sum up the story of Exodus so well. Consider all of the ways in which God has provided for his people… in just the first 15 chapters of Exodus:  After providing them with food in the wake of a devastating world famine, God provided the family of Israel (70 people in all) with a new home in a fertile plain in Egypt where they flourished and grew to become a nation of people.

 God provided the Israelites with a deliverer named Moses to lead them out of Egypt.

 God provided the Israelites with freedom by performing miracle after miracle when Pharaoh’s heart was resistant to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt.

 God provided a pathway for his people to cross the Red Sea, when Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to pursue the Israelites.

And as we’ll see today, God continued to provide for his people as they journeyed toward the Promised Land. Some words that you’re going to hear recur throughout the message today are, “remember” and “don’t forget.” How about you say them with me… Those words are said by God and his prophets to his people, the Israelites, throughout the Old Testament. God repeatedly told his people, “Remember all that I’ve done for you and be intentional about reminding your children and grandchildren of all that I’ve done. Don’t forget.” One of the best known places where God says this is in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Listen to these words…

These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Deuteronomy 6 selected

As we left the people of Israel last Sunday, they were celebrating—as Randy Saultz noted—in dry clothes, after miraculously crossing the Red Sea. (From time to time I hear

1 scholars speculate that the body of water God’s people crossed known as “The Red Sea,” may not have been all that deep or impressive—perhaps a small stream, rather than a sea which the Scriptures depict. Picture the Susquehanna River at this time of year just north of Harrisburg where at some spots you can usually see rocks from one side of the river to the other. If that were the case it’d be even more amazing, that God could use several inches of water to drown all of Pharaoh’s massive army with its horses and chariots when they attempted to follow the Israelites.) All joking aside, the crossing of the Red Sea was the most memorable of all God’s miracles in leading his people out of Egypt. It emphatically closed the door on their time in Egypt and ushered them into their journey through the desert and into the Promised Land. It was fitting that they should be celebrating with singing and tambourines and dancing. Jehovah Jireh, their provider, had delivered them from their nemeses, the Egyptians. Yet, while the crossing of the Red Sea was the highlight of the Israelites’ march to freedom, their journey was far from over. I’m going to read three short passages of Scripture that show us what happened to the Israelites after the Red Sea crossing. The first is Exodus chapter 15 verses 22-24… Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” Exodus 15:22-24

After all that God has done for his people, just three days after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites are questioning whether or not He is able to quench their thirst? Let’s move ahead to chapter 16 verse 1… The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:1-3

How’s that for revisionist history? They were oppressed slaves in Egypt—beaten regularly for not being able to keep up with their daily quota of work. Yet, in their minds, their time in Egypt was a time of comfort and plenty. Isn’t this crazy? Let’s look at chapter 17 verses 1-4:

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they

2 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 up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” Exodus 17:1-4

“We’re thirsty. What are we to drink?” We’re hungry. Why did we leave Egypt where we ate like kings to come out here in the desert and die of hunger? We’re parched. God, are you going to allow us, our children and our livestock to die of thirst?” It has only been about a month since God parted the waters of the Red Sea and led them across on dry land, but that miraculous event is now just a distant memory—the Israelites have forgotten; they’ve failed to remember all that God just did. 9x we read the word grumbling and 4x we read the word quarreling in just several chapters. The reaction of the Israelites would be almost funny if it weren’t so sad…and if we weren’t so prone to behave in the same way. It’s fine to read Scripture and laugh at how absurdly the people within its pages behave…as long as after we have a chuckle, we’re able to acknowledge that we respond the same way. Maybe you can’t relate to grumbling and quarreling with God and forgetting what He has done for you in the past, because you’re much more spiritually mature than I am. If that’s the case, please be patient as I use myself as an example.  FINANCES How many times do I allow financial pressures or worries make me anxious and lead me to grumble and complain when God has repeatedly met all of our needs in the past, even when things were very tight? Can anyone relate to that?

 RELATIONSHIPS When I have a disagreement or conflict with Greta or I’m walking through a tough time with one of our 3 children, I find myself easily bent out of shape. I get upset with my family members and want them to change. Or, I’m frustrated with myself and my inability to act the way I want. And I forget God’s incredible blessings of a wife who loves and supports me and children whom I love and am so proud of. I lose sight of the fact that we’ve walked through challenging times before and God has always been faithful and He will be in the future. Am I the only one who does that?

 ILLNESS Or how about sickness or physical challenges? I’ve experienced God’s protection and healing touch in my own life and in the lives of my wife and children, but when I get sick or have some injury or when the kids or Greta are struggling with something, it’s so easy to grumble and complain and feel depressed wondering when we’ll get through this and questioning why God doesn’t answer my prayers. Can you relate?

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 JOB Do you ever grumble or quarrel with God about your job? There have been several times during my ministry when I’ve questioned God, “Can I do this? Are you sure I’m called to pastor here? I think there are people better suited to do this than me? It would be better for me and my wife and kids if I were doing something else.” Those thoughts have come to mind, yet I know God has called me to pastor and I’ve seen Him bear fruit in my life. Do you ever have those kinds of doubts about your job? And do you find yourself grumbling and complaining about your work?

Do you ever grumble and complain and quarrel with God…even when you know you’ve experienced God’s provisions in the past? I’m pretty sure that at some level we can all relate to the Israelites. Sometimes as people look at Scripture, they make sweeping generalizations and portray the God of the Old Testament as the God of judgment and the God of the New Testament as revealed in Jesus as the God of grace and love. There are elements of truth to this generalization—though God’s grace and love and his judgment are evidence in both the Old and New Testaments—but if you doubt God’s love and grace in the Old Testament, all you have to do is see how He responded to the Israelites in these passages we just read. Can you imagine how frustrating the Israelites’ grumbling and complaining must have been to God? But in the face of their complaining, grumbling and quarreling with Him, time and time again He met their needs. God is our provider and He is faithful. When the Israelites grumbled about being thirsty, God, their provider, enabled Moses to miraculously make the bitter pool of water turn sweet. When the people moaned and complained about their lack of food, God, their provider, sent them manna that settled on the ground each morning and quail that flew into the camp each evening. And when once again they grumbled about their thirst, God, their provider, brought forth water for them from the rock. Can you imagine how frustrating it is to God when you and I fail to remember all He has done for us and we grumble and complain in the face of his blessings and in spite of all that He has done for us in the past? But God is faithful. He is patient and forgiving and kind. Exodus is filled with contrasts between God’s ways and the ways of men and women. Last week Randy highlighted the contrast between Pharaoh’s certainty that he was “the man”— the one calling all the shots—and the reality that God was in control. And he also highlighted the Israelites resigning themselves to the certainty that they’d never get out of Egypt with the reality that God was working in their story and He would miraculously deliver them. The

4 contrast that speaks loudly to us throughout today’s passage is between how quickly we forget what God has done in the past and how impatient we become when our needs aren’t met right now and God’s faithfulness to us in the past, present and future evidenced by his continuous provision for his people. We forget, but God is faithful. We grow impatient, but God continually provides. A commentary that I’ve found extremely insightful as I’ve walked through this series is Peter Enns’ NIV Application Commentary on Exodus. Listen to Peter Enns’ words about the Israelites—words which are so appropriate for us… “No sooner do the Israelites leave Egypt under the most miraculous of circumstances than they, within one month of their departure, lapse into an old pattern. They again use their own perception of their circumstances as the standard by which to base reality. They still have not learned that even though they are in a desert with no food or water, God is above their circumstances. So they grumble. But God uses their grumbling as an occasion not to punish his people, but to teach them something about himself.” Peter Enns

The desert journey for the Israelites was an opportunity for them to have everything that they knew and leaned on stripped away so that they could learn the truth that God was their provider. Our journey through life is rarely as dramatic as what we read the Israelites went through, but our walk through life also teaches us the truth that God is our provider. Our challenge is that too often we convince ourselves that we’re self-sufficient and that we don’t actually need God’s provision. Difficulties in life have a way of reminding us of reality—we don’t control our lives; life is tenuous; God is in control; and, He is our provider. We’re going to be receiving the Lord’s Communion this morning. And my hope is that the Holy Spirit will use our receiving of the bread and the cup to remind us that Jesus is our sustenance. Communion is an act of remembering. Jesus told us to receive Communion “in remembrance of me.” It’s fitting that we receive Communion on a day when we read about God’s provision of manna for his people, because manna—the bread God provided in the desert—foreshadowed the offering of Jesus’ body—bread from heaven—for us. Do you remember Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness prior to Him beginning his ministry? Satan came and tempted Jesus as He was in the midst of a 40-day fast in the desert. Knowing that Jesus was hungry, Satan tempted Him to turn stones into bread so that He might satisfy his hunger. In response Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from

5 the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4 Do you see it? While bread fills our stomachs and sustains us physically, we can’t live on food alone. We live on the Words that come from God. He is our sustenance. He is our life. He is our provider. As we receive Communion today—as we remember—I encourage us to focus on this truth: We can’t save ourselves. We can’t sustain ourselves. We’re not in control of our lives. Jesus is our Savior. He is our sustenance. He is our life. Jesus demonstrated this truth by giving his life for us—his body was broken for us and his blood was shed for us—and our Heavenly Father confirmed it by raising Jesus from death to life. As we receive Communion today we give our assent to Jesus’ words, “We do not live on bread alone, but we live on every word that comes from God.”

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