Temper Tantrums

Is the Lord among us or not?

I cherish the memories of my granddad.

He died a long time ago and it took me a while to realize just how great a man Granddaddy was.

To give you a little insight, when Granddaddy retired from Dixie Steel in Atlanta, they gave him a boat.

It was a 16’ aluminum jon boat painted dark green and it became Granddad’s prized possession.

He took it to the cabin on Lake Nottely.

He’d get up early and paddle out to where he lined up between these two trees on the shore.

He’d anchor at that spot and he’d toss three lines into the water and then he’d wait.

He’d wait all day.

Some days he’d catch 8 or 10 fish.

Some days nothing.

But whether he caught many or he caught none, Granddad was content.

His expectations of life were very, very simple.

He expected to wake up and have food on the table for him and his family to eat.

He expected the lake to be there and the boat to float and to have the ability to paddle the boat where he wanted it to go.

He expected the sun to come up and go down.

He expected that sometimes fish would bite and sometimes they wouldn’t.

He expected as the sun went down that they’d be food on the table for him and his family to eat.

And He expected when it got dark, he would have a bed to sleep in.

He also expected that, if something unexpected happened, he would have what he needed to handle it.

Granddad was content.

Granddad knew every bit of that came from the Lord, and he was a very contented man.

Our text today is from Exodus chapter 17.

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Exodus 17 so you can follow along.

While you are looking, let me talk to the kids for a moment.

Guys, there are lots of things to want.

iPhones, iPads, Gaming stations, 4 wheelers, the latest bats and gloves and the list truly feels endless.

And unfortunately, our world has designed itself to make you feel like you are a loser if you don’t have everything you want when you want it.

And you know what, if anyone has ever called you a spoiled brat, it’s probably because you pitched a fit when you didn’t get what you wanted when you wanted it.

That’s a bit like what the Israelites did in today’s scripture.

Pay close attention and see if you can hear when the Israelites pitched their temper tantrum and what it meant to God.

Your three words to help you pay attention are Lord, Know, and Want.

Moses and the Israelites are in the wilderness of Sin.

It’s pretty much a barren place and here’s what happens.

Hear now the Word of the Lord from Exodus 17:1-7

Exodus 17:1–7 ESV

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?”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

What should we expect of the Lord?

Look at verse 1 Exodus 17:1 “All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord...

If you are reading along in another version of the Bible, where the ESV says they moved on by stages, the King James says “after their journeys.”

The NIV says “traveling from place to place.”

The CSB says, “moving from one place to the next.”

But regardless how its said, they wanted to make sure we knew that wherever they were, they were there “according to the commandment of the Lord.”

They weren’t wandering lost.

They were exactly where they were because the Lord led them to be there.

What did their lives look like everyday?

Well, we know they didn’t make bricks for the Egyptians anymore because the Lord delivered them from Egypt.

And they are in the desert wilderness but they aren’t starving to death.

Because every morning when they wake up, this “what is it?”, this Manna, this best thing we’ve every eaten is covering the landscape, delivered from the Lord.

And there is enough of it every day for every man, woman, and child to have enough to thrive on - the Lord saw to it.

Everyday.

Without fail.

The sun comes up.

There is food on the table that they didn’t have to grow.

All they had to do was collect it.

Six days a week - not seven like they used to work.

No -six days - because the Lord wants them to have a day to remember every week where it all comes from.

Remember we said that the Lord was teaching them how to follow Him - how to be obedient.

And we need to understand

“[They] are always moving from one occasion for obedience to another.” (Terence E. Fretheim)

If we replace the “they” with “we” - this still works.

“We are always moving from one occasion for obedience to another.”

What is obedience?

“Obedience is behavior that is respectful and mindful of rules and laws.” (Vocabulary.com).

So far God’s rules for them are pretty simple, right?

Go where ever He leads them with the clouds.

Gather food 6 days a week.

Rest one day a week and remember where your food, where your life comes from.

That is not hard.

And when they do just those few things, they can count - they can expect - that the Lord will take care of them.

You know that’s what providence means, right?

You’ve heard the phrase “divine providence.”

Divine providence means the protective care of God.

God is for us - God is looking out for us.

Our founding fathers knew what providence means.

We all know the beginning of the declaration of Independence - “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

But do we know the last sentence?

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

They knew that if they were respectful and mindful of the Lord’s rules and laws

If they were obedient to His teaching and guidance,

The Lord will provide.

But there is a requirement - that we are obedient.

That we are respectful and mindful of God and His rules.

I want to ask you, are we?

As we go about our lives every day are we respectful and mindful of God and His rules?

As we are standing at the cash register and the poor child running it can’t seem to count out change - are we, in that moment, remembering that the Lord provides for us?

That this is a moment begging our obedience.

I wonder how it might change the life of the poor child at the cash register if every Christian that came through her line was obedient to the Lord’s rule to love our neighbor?

Are we obedient in traffic and at home and with the kids?

Are we obedient with our spouses?

Are we obedient at church?

God gave us rules for all of those things and they aren’t complicated - love God, love each other.

We just have to choose to be respectful and mindful of God and His rules and choose do them.

And the expectation is, He will then provide.

There are two ways to respond to how God works

Look at verses 2 and 3 - Exodus 17:2–3 “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?””

What are we looking at here - let’s think about the setting.

God has done great miracles to get them here.

The signs and plagues in Egypt.

The Passover - the parting of the Red Sea.

The absolute decimation of Pharaoh's army.

Manna every morning and, AND a day off of work each week to rest and reflect.

They’ve really never had it so good, have they when you consider slavery for 400 years?

When they were hungry or hangry as we called it, they grumbled.

And the Lord gave them Manna to each.

Each one to his fill - everyday.

The Lord provided.

It’s been a few days since then.

And every day, except on the Sabbath, there’s Manna.

God provides.

Now the Lord has led them somewhere - the Lord led them somewhere that presented a new challenge

There’s no water there.

Knowing what we know, knowing that God has already proved that if they will be respectful of God and mind His rules

We know, we KNOW that God will provide.

In this situation, what is the mature response to not having water?

That’s one way we can respond to how God works - we can respond maturely.

Look at verse 4 Exodus 17:4 “So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.””

Moses didn’t ask the Lord if He was still there.

He knew that the Lord would provide in due time.

The Lord is never late.

The Lord is never early.

The Lord is always, always right on time.

There is something that Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that gives us some insight into waiting on the Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

Sometimes light momentary affliction seems like it is lasting forever - especially if the situation feels desperate.

But it’s actually preparation - it’s getting us ready to see God’s provision in a way we couldn’t have known to ask or think.

You see in the story that the Lord took Moses and some of the Elders a distance ahead of the camp to Mt. Horeb

Which I don’t know for a fact but can certainly imagine they could see the peak of Mt. Horeb from where they were camped.

Moses did exactly as the Lord commanded and he struck a rock at the base of the mountain with the same rod that he used to part the Red Sea and water flowed.

Enough water every minute of every day to quench the thirst of every Israelite man, woman, child and beast.

Maturity. Moses reacted with maturity.

Maturity endures the moment to get to the glory.

But what did the people do?

They pitched a temper tantrum - they reacted with immaturity.

You’ve seen a child do that - you’ve probably done it yourself.

I’m going to hold my breath until I turn blue - makes me want to say, knock yourself out, blue is my favorite color.

The child screams and might pound their fists and kick their feet

They might even say, like the Israelites did in so many words, you don’t love me.

Greatest blackmail line of all time.

You heard the end of verse 7 - “because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

The Lord doesn’t love us.

He gave us Manna and it was good.

But now we want water and we want it now.

And where is God?

Why doesn’t he answers us?

Is the Lord on our side or not?

Does He really love us?

Do you think for a skinny minute that God didn’t know they needed water?

What did Jesus say?

Matthew 6:8 ESV

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

No, He knew.

Of course He knew.

And He didn’t reward their temper tantrum.

He told Moses to get SOME of the Elders - I wonder if they were the ones who were mature like Moses.

They went not that far ahead of where they were and the Lord showed them what He had planned to do all along.

In the middle of nowhere, the Lord delivered water out of the rock.

Psalm 78:15–16 “He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.”

It was His plan all along.

If only the people had trusted the Lord

If only they had been patient and respectful of God and mindful of His rules, they would have seen water come from the rock.

But they didn’t get to.

They were too busy acting like spoiled brats.

This story hit me like a two by four between the eyes.

I wonder how many of us are in debt up to our eyeballs because we’re pitching a temper tantrum before God.

I want what I want and I want it now - and God where are you?

Why don’t I have it?

How many broken relationships?

How many fights and arguments?

Because we aren’t willing to wait on the Lord to provide.

Or is it because we don’t believe the Lord will provide.

You know we are under siege, right?

Every commercial - it’s just like I said to the kids at the very beginning of the message.

If you don’t own a new Cadillac Lyriq - that’s the commercial that has my number - If you don’t own a Lyriq

Well, you are a loser.

But who were the real losers in our story?

The people who threw the temper tantrum.

It’s not that God poured His wrath out on them

Flung lightning bolts or cursed them with frogs.

Or even that He didn’t give them water because He was planning to do that all along.

What He didn’t do, was let them see Him work.

He left the room - He went on ahead of them - and for a moment at least, the Lord was merely a spectator watching His children pout.

I keep coming back to this very familiar scripture: Matthew 6:33-34

Matthew 6:33–34 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

What would happen if we dared do this?

Would we be capable of living like my grandfather if it brought us closer to God and our families?

Could we live in a 1200 square foot house

And drive a not so fancy - in his case - very not so fancy car

Whose pride and joy was a 16 foot Jon boat and a $9800 cabin on a lake at that point in the middle of nowhere?

It scares me how much we resemble the rich young ruler.

We have so much that holds us so fast.

The message here is very clear to me

Be obedient - be respectful of God and mindful of His rules

And the Lord will provide.

This text - man.

Comparison is the enemy of contentment - we’ve said that many times.

And the enemy is the master of giving us things to compare ourselves against

To keep us running ragged

To keep us away from Jesus.

Keep looking here and there and feeling like a loser.

But - if we will Sabbath - not take a Sabbath - but Sabbath

Stop - stop - truly look and compare our lives against the life set before us.

How did Paul say it, 2 Corinthians 4:17 “... an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”

More than we can think or ask.

And I can make the argument too - that’s pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye

But let me share this little tidbit of reality - last Monday we laid Lucille Brickle to rest.

98 years, some months and days old.

That’s a long, long life - but it ended on Thursday, June 27 at 9:35 am.

And everything Ms. Lucille owned now belongs to someone else.

But on the flip side, every treasure Ms. Lucille stored up in heaven was waiting for her.

And she gets to enjoy that forever.

“In my Father’s house are many rooms - and I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

For the redeemed, Jesus was planning to do that all along.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross and be raised on the third day so we could all own a Lyriq.

He did it so we could be forgiven of our sins.

So we could see what is important.

So we could chase after Jesus and all that He says is right and holy and noble and honorable and good.

So we could live happily ever after with Him.

In a minute we’ll pray and then sing.

While we are singing, ask yourself - “Am I mature or am I pitching a temper tantrum”

I’ll be down front if you want to talk.

Let us pray.