When the Way is Tough
Deuteronomy: Changing Times and Our Unchanging God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:25
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Your “Go To”
Your “Go To”
When all else fails what do you fall back on.
If life would just always work this way, I’d be:
Content
Focused
Successful
Happy
_________
Today’s sermon is about the fact that life is not always easy and the question we face is where is God and how do we interact with Him when life goes sideways.
Pray
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16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.
18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers
19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.
What happened at Massah
What happened at Massah
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
1 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.
2 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?”
3 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?”
4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 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.
6 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.
7 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?”
The people complained and grumbled and quarreled because they could not see the answer to their dilemma.
They complained about being rescued from slavery because there lives there were miserable but predictable. Sure they were in heavy forced labor but they didn’t run out of water.
Surely this Moses guy has messed up and God isn’t really going to provide.
God provides water from a rock.
What would God have done if the Israelites hadn’t grumbled?
What should the people have done?
In this line Moses is telling the people to trust God.
Do not Test the Lord your God
Do not Test the Lord your God
The nation of Israel is a great example to us as believers. As they wandered in the desert after being freed from slavery, our lives can often feel the same. God saves us from being enslaved to sin and then we are to follow him through this difficult life that will test us and challenge us.
Israel tested the Lord in this instance by grumbling and complaining. they question whether God’s hand was powerful enough to fulfill His promises.
By faith we know that God has proven himself. We should never create new hoops for God to jump through and in our pride declare that He is only god if He jumps through our hoops.
Look at the example of Jesus:
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. Who led him there? The Spirit.
Safe to say that was hard?
Safe to say Jesus was physically weak?
Satan was trying to get Jesus to demand that God prove himself in the midst of his trial. Jesus knew He was to endure and trust that if God wanted to bring a resolution to this hard time He would.
In the end it matters whether or not you trust God.
How do we walk through hard times
How do we walk through hard times
We remember he is with us.
We remember he is with us.
10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Matthew 28:20 (ESV)
20b And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We remember that it will all work out.
We remember that it will all work out.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
We remember to count it as joy.
We remember to count it as joy.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
We remember that an end is only a beginning.
We remember that an end is only a beginning.
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
The world demands that God prove himself but the Christian points to all the ways He has already proven His love.