Testing the Lord

Exodus 17:1-7

-When we grumble and complain we reveal our heart towards God.

According to the authors of the book, Significa, the world’s champion complainer was a man named Ralph Charrell. Charrel received over $100,000 as a result of his systematic complaining. His smallest refund was of $6.95 and his largest was $25,000. Charrel spent time every day making phone call and writing letters of complaint. He even wrote two books, How to Get the Upper Hand and How I Turn Ordinary Complaints into Thousands of Dollars. While we all have the right to stand up for ourselves, would you want to be known as the “World’s Champion Complainer”? Wouldn’t it be better to be the “World’s Champion Encourager”?

I. We Always Have Problems v. 1

When we pick up our story, the Israelites are moving forward to the Promised Land

This is absolutely in keeping with His promise to take them out of slavery in Egypt and into a place of blessing in Canaan

We even find that their route and progression is “according to the commandment” of the Lord

Everything about this scenario is in keeping with His will

We find, however, that even inside of God’s commands, there are serious hardships for His people

Specifically, they do not have water

They are in a wild and desert land and there is nothing to relieve their thirst

I don’t want to go through the desert, but the truth is, we all have to go through the desert

I think that there are a couple of challenges that arise for us spiritually when we experience this sort of thing:

First, we are caught off-guard, surprised that something like this could happen to someone like us

Second, we believe we are unique, thinking we are the only one suffering in this way

The truth is, there will always be a problem of some variety in our lives

We need to pay more attention to how we suffer than that we suffer!

The oyster takes a grain of sand and turns it into a beautiful pearl. Many people are just the opposite—they take pearls and turn them into grains of sand.

II. Our Response Shows Our Character vv. 2-3

Next, we see the people of Israel’s response:

They quarrel with Moses

They make accusations against him

In fact, they make their deliverance from Egypt sound like a bad thing:

They don’t recognize the gift of freedom from slavery

Instead, they view it as an effort to kill them

This response reveals two things:

This is more a commentary on their faith than on their circumstances

Nothing will reveal the depth of our faith like pain

In the critical moment, they find out what they really believe by how they respond

This is not just a quarrel with Moses, it is an attack on God

They do not trust the Lord to care for them, in spite of infinite evidence to the contrary

In the preceding verses, He has provided them with meat and manna, and purified bitter water for them

Every step of this process has been a demonstration of God’s provision for their lives, yet when the challenge arises again, they completely reject Him

What are you really believing in?

For most of us, we are dominated by self-reliance

For some of us, we trust in a God who we remake in our own image

But if we are trusting in the Lord, we will have to believe in a way that we cannot see.

III. God Gives More Grace vv. 4-6

Moses asks God a great question: “What am I going to do?”

God’s response reveals His heart towards His people

It’s just as important as their heart towards Him

God answers their complaints with grace in action

Rather than rebuking the people, God enacts a plan to provide water for them

He gives Moses instructions to take his staff and some of the elders of Israel to a rock on Mt. Horeb (the area where God first called Moses)

God is going to do something that will demonstrate His character to the people:

He will stand before Moses as Moses strikes the rock with a staff

Water will come out of the rock, so much so that the entire nation will have water

God is going to meet grumbling with grace! He gives them what they need rather than what they deserve.

All of this points us to a much greater fulfillment, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

[1] For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, [2] and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3] and all ate the same spiritual food, [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (ESV)

We find out that there that the rock is a picture of Christ Jesus

He was struck for the sake of our sin and the life-giving provision of water flows to us from Him

How did God deal with doubtful, complaining, grumbling people, unworthy and unholy?

He gave His son

Jesus received the blow and was broken so that we could have life!

This is who God is: the one who gives more grace!

1 Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure; save from wrath and make me pure.

2 Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands; could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; thou must save, and thou alone.

3 Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

IV. Complaint Has a Cost v. 7

As the scene comes to a close, we have a beautiful picture of God’s grace, but also a warning

Moses names the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (complaint)

This is exactly what the people did, they tested the Lord and complained against Him

Sadly, it does not stop here

There is a second trip to waters of Meribah in Numbers 20

Almost the exact same things happen as before, but Moses’s heart has changed

He does not listen to the Lord’s instructions and out of a heart of bitterness misses the mark. Now Moses is the one complaining against God

He gets water for the people, but it costs Moses the Promised Land

Moses does not stop being God’s man, but he absolutely misses out on God’s blessings

The danger of complaint and what it reveals is always in front of us!

Psalm 95:7–10

[7] Today, if you hear his voice,

[8] do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,

as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

[9] when your fathers put me to the test

and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

[10] For forty years I loathed that generation

and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,

and they have not known my ways.” (ESV)

-The time to take a look at your heart is today!

What does your heart say about you?

Do you need to stop complaining and start trusting God?

What impact is your attitude towards God and others having on your life?