Exodus 17: 1-7
1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling
from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there
was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said,
“Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do
you put the LORD to the test?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there,
and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of
Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” 4 Then Moses
cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost
ready to stone me.” 5 The LORD answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people.
Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with
which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock
at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to
drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called
the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they
tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Title: Test not the
Lord
Message: God is
wonderfully patient. He never grows impatient to our complaints and His mercy
never ceases. Such He demonstrated towards the Israelites. The people were in
the desert and they could not see any possibility for them to have drinking
water in the middle of it. They seemed to feel that God was not with them while
they were in agony. And because they had readily witnessed God’s miracles, they
tested God by asking Moses to provide them drinking water right there. God did
not fail them, He gave them water from the rock as Moses struck it. Sometimes, we
are like the Israelites. We question God’s
existence, we test His mercy especially when we are in trouble. We tend to
think that God just look at us as we are in agony. It is as if he doesn’t care.
However, this isn’t the case. God had always been with the Israelites. The rock
from which they got water was a spiritual rock and that rock was Christ (1 Cor.
10:4).
Promise to Claim: God is
merciful. His grace is never ending.
Command to Obey: Trust God
and do what He wants us to do. Never test God’s mercy and grace for He never
runs out of those.
Warning to Heed: Distrust
leads to temptation.
Application: I will
trust and will never question anything concerning God.
