Where is God in the Wilderness?

17 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?”

BIG IDEA: GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN US IN THE WILDERNESS

What do we have to know?

God is very much present in our wilderness.

Why do we need to know it?

We can easily lose our focus and accused God of being absent and take things into our own hands.

What do we have to do?

We have to journey on despite challenges, trust God will show up, and do as He tells us.

Why do we have to do it?

Only by journeying on, trusting God, and obeying Him can we experience His presence and grow in the wilderness.

ME

So three Saturdays ago, a friend and I went to watch a Ryerson Musical and Theatre production of “Into the Woods.” Now if you don’t know the story, it’s basically about a bunch of fairytale characters who yearned for a change in their life. The baker and his wife wanted a child but couldn’t have one because the witch has cast a spell on them, and unless they bring back four items by entering the woods, they will never be with child. Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood went to visit grandma who also lived in the woods. Cinderella, whose story is familiar came with a twist, where her travel to the royal ball requires her to enter into the woods. And into the woods, their character is tested and some became a better version of themselves, some got what they desired, and others just got lost in the woods, and a few even perished (there are more characters, but I will spare you the details). Most stories we read when we were young have an “into the woods” element: Pinnochio has the test to be a boy, a true son of his maker Geppetto when he’s given money to buy food and not to lie. Frodo need to travel across Middle-earth bearing the heavy ring which rules all ring as his soul is stripped away, can he cast the dreaded ring into the mouth of the Mountain of Mordor? In all these stories, there’s a place in-between, between promise and fulfillment, between desire and reward.

WE

Wilderness is the in-between space of where we were and where we want to go. The place where the devil does his best work in throwing you off course and putting doubt in your trust on God. But it’s also the place God does His best work training us in righteousness to experience Him and obey His word.

Personally, your wilderness can be your career, your course selection and university, your finance,

Corporately as MCBC, we have travailed through a wilderness from the departure of Rev. Wong to Pastor Kevin and Victor, specifically . We suddenly are rudderless. Only by recognizing where we are can begin to journey forward as God leads us.

GOD

We are into our second last message in our Exodus series focusing on the Presence of God, beginning on the construction of the tabernacle, symbolizing God’s presence will dwell with His people in faithfulness to His covenant, and we will end up at the foot of Sinai two weeks from now as we finish off this series. We got acquainted to God’s instrument for bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, the Egyptian-prince turned Wandering Shepherd turned Leader of God’s deliverance Moses, and his brother Aaron, as they were called into action and through ten plagues from God. God’s people was delivered from bondage as slaves in Egypt, and defeated the rival God of oppression, represented by Pharaoh. As they journeyed out into the wilderness, Egypt should have become a distant memory. It is the place they have left, and God promised His servant Moses will bring them into the Promise land where they can worship Him. That’s where they want to go. However, the wilderness named Sin is no easy trek and less we think we can fare better then Israelites, the unknown can be a scary place. Israelites need constant assurance God’s presence was with them, yet the harshness of the wilderness and its lack of basic need can be terrifying. From chapter 15:22 to our passage today ending in 17:7, each chapter captures a case in which the Israelites grumbled against Moses, which by extension and connection, means they were grumbling against God.

Grumble (Lun~)- make complaining remarks or noises under ones breath. Israelites are pretty frequent grumblers, not only in this pattern of three grumbles, but also in , 17:20 (staff shall sprout, cease grumbling), (if they don’t get their fill).

The first grumbling was over bitter water at Marah (which literally means bitter).

24 And the people cgrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ()

Moses used his staff and threw a log into the water, making it sweet and drinkable.

The second grumbling was over no food.

2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, m“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, nwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” ()

The Bread of heaven Manna was showered upon them as provision and test from God to see if the Israelites would obey; meat in the evening was a reminder of the LORD who brought you out of Egypt and manna by day a reminder of god’s glory.

The third grumbling is not just over bitter water, but over no water. In each case, God’s presence made bitter water sweet, from no food to quail and manna, and water gushing out of the rock of Horeb. Except, the Israelites not only grumbled, they quarrelled:

God uses the wilderness to break us and strips us to our true self.

17 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?”

Where’s Rephidim? It was the last stop before Sinai/Horeb. Possibly a region containing the desert and mount Sinai. Why was there no water? There were two possibilities: It’s the wilderness! Of course there’s no water except either Oasis scattered here and there, or ones created by the LORD like Elim, (Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water in ) and another possibility is just beyond verse 7, we would encounter Israel’s first enemies after Pharaoh and the Egyptians called the Amalekites who may have blocked water sources (). Regardless of which reason, there was no water and it is dry and hot in the wilderness.

Except the word we encounter is not grumble, but Quarrel, a much stronger word often indicating the attitude of a plaintiff (the Israelites) accusing God and Moses (defendants) of deliberately harming them. The other time grumbling is used is in (perished when our brothers perished before the LORD), contend, (and through them he showed himself holy). Grumbling is already the wrong attitude of displeasure, but here the Israelites quarrelled. Moses certainly perceive it as such.

Grumbling is Moses’ first affirmation of the Israelites attitude. But Moses goes further and accused the Israelites testing the Lord.

“Why do you test the LORD?” To do what? What can God possibly do? Why are you trying God again if he can provide you water when He has shown he can turn water into blood and back, he can split the sea (which is made of water) and can bring it back together, he can turn bitter water sweet? Because at the end of the day, the Israelites thought to begin with the journey with God is an easy ride. After all, the miracles they have seen more than prove God’s ability to deliver them WHAT THEY WANT. But as we heard last week, as much as the Israelites thought they had the right to testing if God will do their bidding, God is the one truly testing whether His people will wholeheartedly submit to Him? says

Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” God needed to prepare His people for even greater challenges ahead.

What God sees in His people instead is a faith that buckles under the weight of pressure, where God’s character can flip-flop based on the circumstances they are in. One minute He is praised with the song of Moses, and the very next moment, we are in the middle of nowhere eating substandard food and it’s all your fault, Moses!

History will record in fact when all is said and done, in the Israelites had tempted God ten times. This incident is pinnacle to Moses’ sermons in as the incident at Massah. The Psalmist in the 78th Psalm calls into question Massah happens again and again, and in the expression used for this people is even less flattering, but they have wanton craving in the wilderness; provoke God and try His hand (yet still God did not strike his people), challenging God’s faithfulness as a covenant keeping God, these accusations are no small quarrel, they are a lack of faith and ingratitude.

Illustration

For those of us now experiencing a moment of wilderness, this space between what was and what could have been. What did it reveal about you? About your faith? About your character?

The wilderness draws us to reminisce a skewed past and present

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.”

What a charge against the contrary! The rhetorical question, why did you bring us up out of Egypt is answered with ungrateful words. Oh I know why you brought us out, so you would kill us! Prolong time in the wilderness does that to us. We start to think of the good old days in Egypt, except wasn’t Egypt the place where we lost all our firstborns? Wasn’t Egypt the place where we were given straws to make bricks to build monuments of worship to Pharaoh and other Egyptian Gods? And when Moses challenge Pharaoh, Pharaoh ordered twice the amount with none of the raw materials? Weren’t they treated as slaves and their children are treated differently from Egyptians children. Scraps for the one, a feast for the other. Begging for one, excessive luxury for the other. See, our view of the past is often skewed because we feel we are in the middle of nowhere. So we grab onto what we knew was better then nothing and that better than nothing becomes a lot more attractive. Can’t go back, but don’t know where I am going next. Only until we overcome the wilderness do we see things as they truly are. Egypt was a horrible place.

The easiest thing to do of course is to blame someone around you for your predicament. We can always find a scapegoat for our choices. In this case, Moses the deliverer became Moses the murderer. He will be forever remembered in the Israelites eye as the murderer of the tribe of Israel! In fact, the Israelites seem to often attack this weakness of Moses, that he was a murderer of an Egyptian and he is still a murderer today. Blame started in the Garden of Eden, and it continues to be our default mode of operation when testing comes our way.

Who do you blame while in the wilderness? It is true some wilderness are not cause by our own doing. Some even have lofty names for them as if it justifies placing us there. “Our company is in need of Restructuring.” While others points to the age old adage you reap what you sow. You didn’t do your homework, so you are behind. And you continue to not do it week after week. You didn’t study for your test. And didn’t get the mark you didn’t work hard for. You spent beyond your means this past Christmas and aren’t able to pay for your upcoming credit card bills.

So scapegoats become people you love and cared for you. And they certainly understand, to a point. When you become more irritated with them, frustrated with them, even angry. When you feel defeated, they want to offer you support. It’s hard to comfort someone in the wilderness. Their mind and their thoughts are often so transfixed on what they lack, what they are without instead of who they have. But as human beings we can only take so much negativity, so much grumbles and stand back while we are lashed out at for no reason. So what was now just one persons wilderness can often become two. Moses cried out to God for help because this is an accumulation of someone placed in a highly stresssful situation. Perhaps he may be exaggerating he is about to be stoned, which is something you would do in Near East Culture when someone places the community in danger, shame, or disorder. Regardless, Moses knew he was at the end of his rope so he cried out to God. Afterall, what the Israelites failed to realize is when they were thirsty and would have drank bitter water had not God intervened, Moses was thirsty and would have needed to drink bitter water too. When they were hungry and had not God intervened by sending Quail and Manna, Moses was hungry too. And now, facing once again a lack of water in the hot, arid desert, Moses was experiencing the same dire situation yet those in the wilderness doesn’t care. You are God’s appointed leader, that’s what you get for being a leader. The Israelites never see pass their own cravings and needs to see Moses, while a leader, was just a man, a one of us. That’s the deception of the wilderness.

Those who are caught or try to help someone or a community in the wilderness without the resources of God will fail!

The wilderness can be a scary place.

God’s presence is not at the end of the wilderness, but in the midst of it!

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?”

Isn’t it interesting while the Israelites continue to increase in their grumbling and quarreling, questioning where is God, Moses is in fact speaking to God directly. Speaking is a weak term, more like crying out. The charge that God is not amongst us is out right ridiculous! God led them with a pillar of cloud and fire. Heaven rained manna to feed them and quail for meat. God has been faithful even as the the Israelites have been faithless. Still, even now, God did not answer Moses cry directly but commanded Moses to do three things, three things we should take note of when we are caught or have fallen into the wilderness. Take your staff, the staff you struck the Nile, God’s power and presence and bring the elders who will be witnesses to this miracle less the Israelites can later say it is a natural occurrence, and strike the rock so water will gush forth. But in between these commands the key to resolving this crisis in the wilderness may be easily missed. God says: “I will stand there before you on the rock of Horeb.” God himself will be present to see to it the task is not only accomplished but personally see to its results. God ever remains faithful in the whole journey.

Only by journeying on, trusting God, and obeying Him can we experience His presence and grow in the wilderness.

And

Choose to be an Elder!

Journeying on

Turning back is not an option. Sometimes you can’t because you

Trusting God

Obeying Him

The people will drink!

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. ()

YOU

GOD has not forgotten you in the wilderness. God has not forgotten us in the wilderness MCBC. As a witness myself for the past 11.5 years, MCBC, and English ministry in particular has gone through many ups and downs. Pastor Joe served faithfully for 10 years and left, and we have our first wilderness for several years where we waited and yearned for a new lead English pastor. I still remember at many general members meeting we would cry out and ask the leadership the status of our English pastor hiring. And at times there would be no candidates. At times there would be some candidate or resume but after initial interview they don’t meet the criteria. We continued to wait patiently, and God brought us Pastor Kevin for a season, faithfully ministering to the English congregation, then Pastor Victor, and for a brief moment we seem to have arrived. We are now in the wilderness again, waiting for direction and guidance to the next step and thanks to Pastor Edward to step in and Pastor Ken with us, we know we have not been forgotten. In the meantime, journey on, trust God and obey Him and He will bring the right person into our midst.

But we need to choose today! Will we be the Israelites who grumble at the moment of any news, announcements, proclamation, decision, situation which they dislike?

Or will we be like the elders who faithfully continue to journey on, trust God and obey him even when what news, announcements, proclamation, decision, situation isn’t what we want?

Many years later, it will take another Israelite to be tested amongst the wilderness three times in order for the answer to the second question to be answered, “Is the LORD among us or not?” YES! Not only is he among us, He is immanuel, God WITH us! His name is Jesus and what the Israelite did with grumbling and quarreling He obeyed and trusted His Father every step of the way.

He was there too, the rock, in Massah.

Using the journey as an illustration, the Apostle Paul spoke to the church of Corinth in For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 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. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown2 in the wilderness.

Jesus overcoming the wilderness ensures no one ever entering into the wilderness need to doubt where God is in its midst, or whether he understands what it’s like to be in the wilderness.

WE

And as surely as He was present at the wilderness, He was present at the cross, never grumbled or grovelled or quarreled, but entrusted Himself to the one who stands upon the rock, and today, in just a few moments, promise His power and presence at the table He has set before us, commemorating the brokenness of His body and shedding of His blood, so that all of us at all stages of the wilderness will know we are never again God-foresaken.

Let’s pray.