The People’s Continued Lack of Trust and Yet God’s Continued Faithfulness

“Do you trust me?

All too often we look at one side or the other when it comes to our trust in the Lord. Either we place our focus on why we should trust the Lord or the effects of not trusting him. Today I want to look at what God continues to do despite our lack of trust in Him.

Read Exodus 17:1-7

Before we get to the meat of this passage, I want to turn our attention to verse one where we are told that the people of Israel move according to the commandment of the Lord. The successful movement of God’s people, whether it is in regard to location, mind, or heart, we will see a command of God to go. However, in this midst of this continued journey, we first see

The People’s Lack of Trust (v. 1-3)

We come to yet another moment where the people of God seem to be dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction leads to more than just the grumbling that we’ve seen in previous chapters. It is in verse two that we read that they now are quarreling with Moses. While we don’t have any reason from the passage to believe that this is a physical altercation, it does seem to get heated with Moses.

The people are still in the wilderness and rather than no water that is good to consume, there is no water at all. Look carefully at what the people say to Moses. “Give us water to drink.” There is no plea, there is no request. Instead, there is a command. I am afraid that the people of God found themselves in a place of entitlement and we can do this as well if we are not careful. The people of God have a certain expectation and demand God to give them water. There is a lack of trust implied in the demand from the people. Rather than saying, “There is no water but the Lord has never let us down before”, they demand something that they simply don’t deserve. Hadn’t the Lord already proved Himself? Hadn’t he already provided the people with drinkable water or food while in the wilderness? Moses simply asks them, “why do you test the Lord?”

I want to take a moment to address the idea of testing because if you think back to Exodus 16:4, the Lord says that He is going to test the people. Why is it okay for God to test the people but not okay for the people to test the Lord?

I think we come back to intent for the testing in this case. For the Lord to test the people, He is looking to see whether or not they are going to be obedient. Meanwhile, the people looked at how they had grumbled in the previous situations and were able to get what they were in need of rather than asking the Lord or even simply trusting that He was going to provide. Our God is proven to provide what we need when we need it. There is no need to test the Lord because He has never failed you up to this point.

One final point that begs to be made regarding the lack of trust on the people’s part is in verse 7. It seems as though the people were doubting the presence of God which is simply foolish.

As we look at our own situations in life, what areas are you in need of additional trust? Have you forgotten what God has done in the past? Are you going to the Lord commanding Him to do something rather than humbling yourself and pleading with Him to work on your behalf? Have you managed to wonder if the Lord is no longer by your side?

May we be reminded that God is worthy of our trust!

However, in this passaeg it is not just the people who fail to trust the Lord. Now, we turn our attention to

The Leader’s Lack of Trust (v. 4)

There seems to be a great deal of doubt in the response cry of Moses to the Lord here. Just in these two sentences we see two points of doubt or uncertainty. First, Moses asks what he should do with the people as if what God has commanded him to do before might not be working. We can understand the frustration that Moses has, yet this is the same level of distrust that the people show when they ask if they had been brought out, with their children and livestock, to die.

In the same way, Moses is also concerned for his well-being and has a fear that the people might stone him. Would the Lord not keep him safe?

I raise this point to remind all of us that even those that are closest to the Lord, attempting to follow His will have a tendency to look to our own safety rather than setting our sights on God’s will first. For the leaders in this room, whether it is in this church, your home, or the workplace, have you set your sights on the Lord’s will or have you allowed the your own well-being or comfort to overtake your desires?

Finally, it is fitting that our final point this morning be around

The Lord’s Continued Faithfulness (v. 5-7)

Moses is told to go on before the people, establishing a trust to have his back turned to them. If you are worried about being stoned, you wouldn’t want to turn your back before the people.

Beyond that, Moses is told to take the elders of Israel and the staff that also struck the Nile. The reason for the elders to go along is that they might be witnesses to the miracle that God would shortly perform on behalf of the people.

The purpose of the staff was to represent the presence of God as it always does in the book of Exodus. However, the staff isn’t just a representation of God’s presence because we see in verse 6 that the Lord says that He will stand before Moses at the rock.

It is helpful to point out at this point, just as was discussed regarding the tree in the water, that there is no scientific reason for us to believe that the staff hitting the rock would bring about water. Rather this is a miracle caused by the Lord because it contains the two things necessary for a miracle: the presence of God and the power of God. Where the Lord’s presence is, there also is His power.

Despite the continued distrust of the people of Israel, and even Moses in this case, the Lord continues to provide for the needs of His people. In moments where we are undeserving of His blessings, the Lord continues to come through!

And it should be noted that Moses commemorates the attitude of the people by naming this spot “massah” which means testing or trial and “meribah” which means strife.

Do you make a habit of demanding things of the Lord? Are you trusting that He will come through? Do you consider the Lord’s will over your own well being? How have you been reminded of the Lord’s faithfulness?