Is the Lord Among Us or Not?

Scripture: References only Series: Desert Lessons Date: Not yet preached Preacher: Ed Rangel Location: Chile Sermon Type: Expository Status: Not yet preached

Thesis

Need can lead us to distrust God or to depend on Him; the Lord demonstrates His faithfulness by providing life for a people who cannot save themselves.

Opening

Israel had no water, and that was neither a small inconvenience nor an imaginary fear. In the desert, people and animals would die without it; the need was real, but Israel's response turned a legitimate need into an accusation against God.

The people had seen the sea part, had sung over Pharaoh's defeat, and had received manna from heaven. Yet, faced with a new crisis, they asked whether the Lord was among them or not.

That question did not seek understanding; it sought to accuse. Israel demanded new proof of God's presence while surrounded by proofs they had already forgotten.

Introduction

1. The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and led them through the desert.
2. Each stage of the journey happened according to God's command.
3. In the previous chapter, God had given manna and quail.
4. Now the people camped at Rephidim, where there was no water.
5. The lack of water did not mean Israel had abandoned God's guidance.

Scripture Reading: Exodus 17:1–7

I. OBEYING GOD DOES NOT EXEMPT US FROM FACING NEEDS (v. 1)

A. Israel arrived at Rephidim by the Lord's command.

1. The text does not say the people strayed from the path.
2. God Himself had directed their journeys.
3. Yet, in the designated place, there was no water.
4. Being within God's will does not mean every circumstance will be comfortable.

B. The need was genuine.

1. We must not ridicule the fear of people facing real danger.
2. Biblical faith does not pretend the desert has water when it does not.
3. Israel needed provision, not a superficial explanation.
4. The error was not in recognizing the need, but in judging God for it.

C. A difficult circumstance does not interpret the character of God by itself.

1. Israel saw a dry camp and concluded God had abandoned them.
2. They forgot the deliverance, the sea, and the manna.
3. We too can allow a present problem to erase all memory of past faithfulness.
4. We must interpret crisis in light of God's character, not interpret God in light of a crisis.

II. COMPLAINING BECOMES REBELLION WHEN IT PUTS GOD ON TRIAL (vv. 2–3)

A. The people contended with Moses.

1. They demanded that he give them water to drink.
2. They spoke as if Moses had created the desert and could produce water by his own authority.
3. The pressure against the visible leader expressed an accusation against the God who sent him.
4. Moses asked why they were testing the Lord.

B. Israel turned their fear into a false narrative.

1. They accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them.
2. Deliverance was framed as a conspiracy.
3. Selective memory turned Egypt into a desirable place and the deliverer into an enemy.
4. When unbelief tells the story, grace looks like cruelty and slavery looks like security.

C. Testing God means demanding that He prove His faithfulness on our terms.

1. Israel did not humbly ask for help from the God they already knew.
2. They challenged Him to prove once again that He was present.
3. Faith brings need to God; unbelief uses need to accuse Him.
4. We must not make God's love conditional on His doing exactly what we have decided.

III. GOD'S SERVANT MUST BRING THE CRISIS TO THE LORD (v. 4)

A. Moses recognized that he could not produce what the people needed.

1. He did not pretend to have a solution.
2. He did not respond to anger with more anger.
3. He cried out to the Lord.
4. Pressure reveals whether a leader depends on his own ability or on God.

B. Moses spoke honestly about the danger.

1. He said the people were almost ready to stone him.
2. Prayer does not require artificial language.
3. We can present both the needs of others and our own fear to God.
4. Crying out is better than manipulating, defending oneself, or retaliating.

C. Intercession protects a leader from treating the people as enemies.

1. Moses brought his words to God instead of taking revenge.
2. He kept serving those who questioned his motives.
3. A faithful leader does not need to deny the sin of the people to ask for mercy for them.
4. Prayer keeps the heart under God's rule.

IV. GOD PROVIDED WATER FOR A PEOPLE WHO HAD TESTED HIM (vv. 5–6)

A. God commanded Moses to pass ahead of the people.

1. Moses was to take some elders along as witnesses.
2. He was also to take the staff with which he struck the Nile.
3. The staff served as a reminder of judgment upon Egypt and power to deliver.
4. Everyone needed to know the water would come through God's word.

B. God promised to stand before Moses on the rock.

1. The people asked if the Lord was among them or not.
2. God answered not only with words, but by manifesting His presence and provision.
3. Moses struck the rock according to the command.
4. Water poured out in abundance for the congregation.

C. Grace was greater than murmuring.

1. The people deserved rebuke.
2. God did not approve of their unbelief.
3. Yet He provided what was necessary for them to live.
4. Grace does not call the guilty innocent; it gives the guilty what they could not produce.

D. God can provide where we see only impossibility.

1. A rock did not look like a source of water.
2. The solution was not found in the camp's visible resources.
3. The Lord does not depend on the conditions that limit us.
4. Our responsibility is to hear His word and obey.

Textual Synthesis

A. The names preserved the memory of sin.

1. Massah and Meribah recall the contention and the testing imposed on God.
2. Israel received water, but their attitude was not to be forgotten.
3. A merciful response does not turn unbelief into something acceptable.

B. The question revealed the core problem.

1. Is the Lord among us or not?
2. God's presence had been visible since Egypt.
3. The problem was not a lack of evidence, but a heart that forgot.
4. Psalm 95 uses this episode to warn us not to harden our hearts.

C. Later generations needed to learn from their failure.

1. A person can experience God's provision and continue resisting His voice.
2. Miracles do not replace an obedient heart.
3. The right question is not how many signs we have seen, but whether we will hear His word today.
4. Spiritual memory must produce present faithfulness.

Connection to the Cross

A. The New Testament makes an explicit connection (1 Corinthians 10:4).

1. We must not turn every detail into an invented allegory.
2. We must receive the apostolic interpretation that Christ was the spiritual source sustaining the people.
3. The Son did not begin caring for His people in Bethlehem; He was at work throughout redemptive history.

B. Christ gives the water that satisfies our deepest need.

1. In John 4, Jesus offers living water that becomes a well springing up to eternal life.
2. In John 7, He invites the thirsty to come to Him and drink.
3. Our greatest need is not material, but reconciliation with God.
4. No human resource can remove guilt or produce spiritual life.

C. The cross demonstrates the presence of God even when circumstances seem to deny it.

1. On the cross, the Son of God suffered and died for sinners.
2. What looked like abandonment and defeat was the decisive act of salvation.
3. His resurrection confirmed that God accomplished His purpose.
4. When we do not understand the path, we look to the cross before asking whether God loves us.

D. The connection to Christ is strong; we do not need to force an equivalence in every detail.

1. Paul identifies the spiritual provision with Christ.
2. Jesus presents Himself as the giver of living water.
3. The center is not speculating about the rock, the staff, or every movement of Moses.
4. The center is that God gives life through Christ to a needy and unworthy people.

Application

Bring your need to God without turning it into an accusation, and remember concrete ways the Lord has already shown His faithfulness. Do not demand that God obey a deadline or method you invented.

If you lead others, respond to pressure with prayer rather than self-defense. If you are spiritually thirsty, stop seeking life in sources that cannot save and turn to Christ.

Conclusion

1. Israel questioned the presence of the Lord even though they had walked under His guidance.
2. God responded by giving water from the rock, not because the complaint was justified, but because He remained faithful.
3. Massah and Meribah warn that a real need does not justify putting God to the test.
4. God has provided a greater answer than the water of Rephidim by delivering His Son, who died for our sins and rose to give life.

Invitation

Do not use your crisis to turn away from the only One who can sustain you. Hear His word. If you are not a Christian, believe in Jesus, repent, confess His name, and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. If you are already a Christian, stop putting God to the test and trust once again in the faithfulness demonstrated by the cross.