Unlike Faithless Israel

Shalom! Good morning, it is an honor to be here with you today for a short time to share some of my story with you. My name is Shiri and I am an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin. I was one of the very many people that Moses led out from slavery in Egypt and into the wilderness towards the Promised Land, and I hope that you can learn something from the mistakes I made then and the lessons I have since learned. May I join your class for a little while, professor?

Now, I can see that you are students, very well-seasoned students it would seem. So, let us see what you can learn from me, shall we? But where to begin… Ah, of course. Before I begin with my story, allow me to tell you a small bit of what I have learned since my time walking the Earth. There is a man that I know, he arrived in the LORD’s presence some time after I did, from the time of the Early Church. He wrote the book of Hebrews and since you all don’t know who he is and there is likely a reason for that, I’ll just call him Eli. Eli wrote a section of Hebrews, chapter 3 verses 7 to 19 that stood out to me as an area of failing for Israel and for me. He talks about faithfulness to Christ in response to Christ’s faithfulness. To make his point he quotes another passage written long after I lived but referencing a time of great shame that I was part of, which helped me make the connection to my own story. Psalm 95 talks about Massah and Meribah and I will be telling you about this time among others today in hopes that you learn from our mistakes, just like Eli hoped those he wrote to would. Eli penned this passage after the beginning of chapter 3 and it talked about how Christ is faithful, which points us to why it is so important that we respond in faithfulness as well. My story is likely going to bounce all over a little bit, because I learned 3 lessons about faithfulness from Eli’s passage, but there is an overarching point to it and I will make sure to tell you so that if you get nothing else, you get that. Are we ready to begin?

We have an enemy – in our time as we trekked towards the Promised Land, we thought our greatest enemies were the nations around us. They were trying kill us, after all! Or Egypt, where we hadn’t even been seen as people, but as less than animals. They had pursued us as we finally managed to leave that place behind us. In truth, our enemy was, just as yours is today, one who we could not see. Far more ruthless, single-minded, and equipped with more subversive weapons than our human enemies. The Deceiver, the Accuser was at work in our midst from the very beginning, spreading doubt and division. He works in your midst as well, but I believe you are already aware of this. We were, for the most part, oblivious, and that made us easy targets. You may already know, as Eli did, that community is one defense you have against the Enemy… He urged his readers to “encourage one another day after day… so that none of them would be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (v. 13). This was my first lesson, and it seems simple enough, right? Encourage each other, find community, all good things. This is where my story comes into play. I must warn you; it has to be good community.

I was a part of a very large community and we were all bound by a few commonalities: we had all been slaves – or the vast majority of us. There were foreigners among us some of whom had come to trust in the LORD during the plagues. But most of us had been slaves our entire lives, that really binds a group together! We were all following Moses, heading towards a land that had been promised to us. We were all tired, I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but walking for days and months at a time works very different muscles than the various tasks we were occupied with in Egypt. So long into our time walking it was much better, but I think it doesn’t matter how long you are walking for, your feet still get sore. Put all these commonalities together and you get a group bound together by shared misery and shared hope, which seems like a decent combination, right? Clearly not, because I cannot tell you how many times over my lifetime we joined together and rather than encouraging one another, we began to grumble against our leadership and against our God. This is the beginning of the story of what happened at Massah and Meribah. Even by then though, us joining together to grumble and gripe was a tiring trend in our history. The story of Massah and Meribah starts in a place called Rephidim, it was later renamed Massah and Meribah which means test. We arrived, looking froward to resting from a long day of walking and cranky animals and fighting children (have you ever seen children go a day without finding something to fight about?). When we got there… there was no water! We were absolutely parched, we had no water left over, and many of us had at least one animal and several children to take care of. So the grumbling began small, just individuals to one another… “Gee, you’d think someone would have planned this out better”. Eventually it spread through the whole community, which in this case was a whole nation of people! We began to grumble against Moses, the leader God had placed over us, and by extension against God Himself! We’ll come back to this part of my story later, I want to focus right here. Our community gained strength from one another, this is true, but we were influenced by the Enemy and gained strength in the wrong direction. This is a perfect example to me of why finding good community is so vital. Years later, while we were wandering in the wilderness as a consequence for our actions, I became friends with a small group of other women. This was good community, we encouraged one another, helped one another where we could, and reminded each other of the faithfulness of God even when the others were doubting. This is what Eli was saying was so necessary to remaining faithful to Christ: A community that encourages one another daily in the direction away from sin.

There is a similarity between how this story and one that occurred not long before it. We were on our way to the Promised Land, leaving behind shackles that had been ours for generations, basking in total freedom! We were following a God that we thought had forgotten about us for hundreds of years – turned out He fought for us and had just been biding His time. He had already proven He cared for us. Egypt was struck down. Egypt’s gods were targeted one by one with plagues that proved they were powerless against the All Powerful One. The Red Sea parted, and we had been following a pillar of cloud or fire! How incredible it was! And then our food supplies began to run short… our stomachs began to grumble… and so did we. As with Massah and Meribah, we joined together and began to grumble against our leaders and the God who appointed them. We were not only swept away with grumbling, but also distrust. We chose to let go of our feeble faith that had carried us after the LORD out of Egypt. We not only released that faith but we accused Moses, and through him, God, of seeking to kill us! What a horrible accusation – to accuse the very One who had led us to freedom of such a capricious nature as to kill us for the sake of a whim! We still reverted back to thinking of YHWH as being like the gods of Egypt who would rescue and then destroy the same person within a breath of fancy. This was a mindset we reverted back to so many times along our journey… and the LORD had mercy on us, both as our stomachs gnawed at us with hunger and at Massah and Meribah. This time, we turned accusing fingers onto Moses and Aaron and God and the LORD promised to provide. And that evening, as God had promised, the thunder of wingbeats drowned out our grumbling. The sky on the horizon went dark! And just as we were turning to one another in fear, the first quail landed in the camp. They came in a flood and covered the ground, a few even flew into some of the tents, prompting wild shrieking from various children. What a celebration we had that night as we feasted on meat like we never had in Egypt! Then the morning came and we poked our heads cautiously out of our tents, unsure how God’s promise of bread would come to pass but our faith was fuelled by the previous night! There was a dew that covered the ground, so thick you could see it, and when it cleared, what almost looked like frost was in its place. When I reached out and touched it, I discovered it was a layer of thin flakes that littered the earth. It was sweet – the best bread we had ever had, even with the many types of sweet fruit breads in Egypt! The LORD had proved once more to us as a nation that He would be faithful to us, that we could trust Him.

(PAUSE) And then we arrived where there was no water to drink, and all our faith went out the window. The second lesson that I learned was essentially to not do what we did… we let go of our faith and our trust so easily and so many times. Eli encouraged his audience to hold fast to the beginning of their assurance, firm to the end! This is a part of what faithfulness to Christ looks like, holding fast, holding firmly, to the assurance of Who He is, of His character and His faithfulness, until the very end. Something I have noticed as a mother is quite practical but has real depth in this matter as well. If my child is holding tightly onto something – perhaps a blanket that they are attached to and do not want to let go of, then they cannot hold onto anything else. In order to hold anything else they must let go of what they were holding onto. It is the same with faith. If I am holding onto my fear so tightly, I cannot hold onto faith in the LORD. I must let go of my fear, and reach for Him and hold tightly onto Him instead. While it is bad to have my hands full with fear, it is very good to have my hands full with faith and trust in One who will never let me down. Hold fast to your assurance, firm until the end.

Eli’s third point in the Hebrews passage was “do not harden your hearts”. We were the example… Our story was the illustration he used, because harden our hearts we did… eventually too much. The story of Massah and Meribah ended with a miracle – the LORD told Moses to strike a rock with his staff and, much to our amazement, it wasn’t merely an expression of anger! Instead, water gushed from the heart of the stone and we were once again provided for, in a way we had never expected! Again and again, the LORD provided and proved Himself faithful to us… and again and again we turned against Him, we grumbled, we lost faith, and we hardened our hearts. Eventually our hearts were hardened to the point of no return. I am sure you have heard the story of Joshua and Caleb and the spies that went out into Canaan to see what we were facing. Joshua and Caleb, future leaders of Israel, came back filled with faith and excited to see how the LORD would fight for us! The other 10 were dismayed, full of doubt, and incited the rest of the nation against Moses and Aaron. Students, I am ashamed to say it, but I was part of the crowd that rushed forward, seeking their very lives! I watched on the edge of the crowd and I was drawn into their anger, their fear, their lack of faith… and we tried to stone the very leaders God had placed over us! We would have returned to Egypt, the very place we had been set free from, and spurned the LORD’s good gift, His faithfulness, and returned to what we had known. Our hearts were so hard, they could not be softened, and we acted out in an attempt to murder those placed in authority over us.

What was the result, the LORD sought to strike us all down then and there! But Moses interceded on our behalf, and instead we faced a consequence for our actions that we would have to bear for the next 40 years. We would never enter the Promised Land… never. Do not harden your hearts… The very thing which had been our hope and our goal, it would never be ours but our children that would see the culmination of our journey instead.

Students, I never saw the Promised Land. (Feel the emotion!)

Do you know the reason that the LORD gave for this? It was for our unfaithfulness. For our unfaithfulness, we would die in the wilderness and never see our goal. No wonder Eli called for the Church to be faithful to Christ! There are consequences for unfaithfulness, but there is great reward for responding to Christ’s faithfulness with faithfulness of your own.

I told you that I would lay out the main point for you, so here it is, now at the tragic end of my story… As Christ is faithful, we must also be faithful. Encourage one another daily, hold fast to your assurance and your faith, and do not harden your hearts. Please, learn from the mistakes of my people, from my mistakes… Live faithfully empowered by Christ’s faithfulness. He’s done the work, He has wrought the change within you, live in it! Reach for what is promised to you and remain faithful to the One who is always faithful…

(Tilt head upwards and listen for a second) Ah, it is time for me to go. Thank you for your time, for pausing in your instruction, I hope that there has been a valuable lesson from our errors. Shalom and may God bless you as you strive to live faithfully.