[To download the sermon, right-click on this link and select "Save As": The Lord is Present to Provide, Part I]

INTRO: Last we were here, the people were on the far shore of the sea singing a song of salvation and their Savior

How quickly things turn from celebrating to surviving
From the heights of triumph to depths of despair
They forget what God has done

Allie, our black lab: we just adopted a dog from the humane society who is, we thought, perfect in just about every way…sits on command, fetches, loves the kids, housebroken. And she acted as if she understood that we had rescued her from the bondage of the pound

Until you get near her food dish. Get near her food, and she wants to bite the hand that feeds her.

Follow up:

She has food aggression…

Here, we see the Israelites have water aggression.
They’ve forgotten they have been saved and they snap at the hand that leads and feeds them.

But if we’re honest, we recognize such turns in our own lives
From singing of God’s miraculous working as if He’d parted the sea…
To whining in a pool of bitterness, wondering if God is with us or not.

And so we do well to remember words for 1 Cor 10 as we begin the wilderness wanderings with the exodus crowd

READ 1 Cor 10:6, 11 … grumble v10

In these passages, we need to see that God’s faithfulness is evident in
His constant provision of our continual need
His compassionate patience with our continual doubt

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Remember where the Israelites have come from:

Brought out of Egypt
Harsh oppression, Brutal slavery

The question in Egypt was “who is the Lord?”

The LORD wanted to show that He is God and there is no other

1. God shows that He is a Deliverer, Redeemer…FAITHFUL PROTECTOR
So He answered the question with plagues of judgment and blessings of deliverance

Upon delivering His people, what’s the first thing God wants them to understand?

2. God wants His people to know Him as a FAITHFUL PROVIDER

So where do you take someone to show them how faithfully you can provide???

Brought into the wilderness

Our family recently went camping, and while the parks of Georgia and Alabama are hardly the wilderness, it was the first time we had been camping in over 4 years.

Getting ready, who got all the gear and supplies together?

Not once did the girls question whether they were going to have a place to sleep, food to eat or something to drink…they KNEW that Mommy and Daddy would take care of them

Despite seeing and experiencing the Lord prepare the way and deliver them, they did not make the connection b/w Faithful Protector and Faithful Provider

They’re 3 days into the wilderness … this is no state park with electric hook-ups
But it is what Moses had said they were going to do:

Worship the Lord (Ex 3:18, 5:1, 3, 7:16, 8:27-28)
But they were taken from “Serving pharaoh” to “serving God”
They were being freed to worship

They go three days out and what? Not worship … but worry

In fact, the Wilderness prompts a new question: “Is the Lord with us or not?!!?!”

They do not believe the One who Saves will also Supply and Satisfy

>>>>>>>>

Maybe we need to cut them a break … This WAS a life threatening situation
This wasn’t a field trip

1. Everything that we’ve brought along is GONE

3 days journey obviously used up their stores
They were approaching a water source, and hearing word of it, you can imagine what happened
If I know we’re about to go shopping, I’ll eat the rest of the ice cream so we have to buy more
they began drinking the last of their old water supply, watering their animals,
emptying their skins to fill them again.

2. Water is bitter

Used up all resources, to find out … there’s no more?!

What are they thinking? We’ve left the “bitter work” of Egypt for bitter death in the desert?

What do they do? they grumble, complain, gripe
against Moses … who are they really grumbling against? God (16:7-8)

What do YOU do? How do YOU react?

How quickly yesterday’s deliverance fades in the face of today’s circumstances

What is complaining, at it’s root?

It’s blaming something or someone else when things don’t go our way

And ultimately, it’s aimed at God
Instead of adoration aimed at God, it’s accusation we aim at Him

Complaining is NOT the same as praying
We typically don’t thank and look to the one we’re blaming

At it’s root, there’s some fear, some insecurity, some anxiety

The problem isn’t that we get thirsty … God wants us to be thirsty!

In fact, I think the Lord delights in depleted supplies and used up our resources

WHY… so that we would have to depend on him

BUCK > in-laws dog who didn’t have food aggression but food obsession
got into the food and stuffed himself, but also buried the entire bag of food
He had never missed a meal, his owners faithfully fed him and loved him
but he didn’t trust that it would happen again
he felt he had to take it when he could get it

The problem is this: we get fixed on circumstances and not our Faithful Provider

Tennessee tornados, student at Union College
He hit the floor, felt a couch slide up against him, and then the roof collapsed
He was stuck for 2 hours until the could pull him free
In a position

Cocoon of debris around him, a concrete slab of the building on the couch that would have crushed him, if he would have been inches in either direction, he would have been seriously injured or killed

He told his friend that God forced him into a position on his knees, feet up under him … in a position to pray, and that was all he could do

God is forcing you into a position to pray, to cry out to him in your every need

READ Phil 4:6-7

To Follow God is to enter the barren, desolate Wilderness
Knowing that you’re being led, knowing that you will be fed
Day after hot, dry, dusty day

“there are no shortcuts. The Promised Land can only be reached by way of the wilderness” (Philip Ryken)

>>>>>>>>>>

How does God react? (15:25)

In God’s compassion and grace, bitterness becomes sweet

What does it show about God?

He is who He says he is
Self-definition that He will summarize for toward the end of this book of Exodus

Ex 34:6-7 “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Num 14:18, Neh. 9:17, Ps. 86:15, Ps. 103:8, Ps. 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jon. 4:2)

He is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness

Whatever the circumstances may be, God is a faithful provider

>>>>>>>>>>

I don’t want you to miss what’s going on here
Which was more bitter? The water … or the hearts of the people?

Maybe you’re at a pool of bitterness in your life right now
You’re tired, your spent, you have no resources left
Maybe your in a life-threatening situation, but more likely life has simply gotten threatening.

Whatever your circumstances…what it the state of your heart before God?

What is it God wants from His people? (15:26)
Diligently listen & Do … Give Ear & Keep

Faith is demonstrated through
Acknowledging God as Provider
Looking to God to provide (crying out to him)
Obedience to what he says to do

Moses acted in obedience
He didn’t ask “what will a log do?” … he obeyed

“obedience to God is an antidote to bitterness.” DJ Kline

To listen to His voice … take him at his word
And out of that DO … LIVE …

showing not just your faithfulness, but that you actually BELIEVE that God is faithful, who He says He is and does what He says He’ll do.

>>>>>>>>>

Why does God test his people?
To see if they deserve it? To see if they are strong enough or good enough?

Remember: how strong was their faith PRIOR to the Red Sea crossing?
Had they come to know that the LORD is God? No!!!

Their faith was terribly weak: “let’s go back to Egypt.”
Yet the LORD still saved them

B/c the strength of our faith is not what saves us, but the faithfulness of God

READ James 1:2-4

To follow God is to enter the wilderness with all of it’s lack
Knowing that in the LORD you will lack nothing, He is all sufficient gain

Don’t turn back from the wilderness,
But turn back from your faithlessness … (repent) … and go forward

>>>>>>>>>>>

But even in our stubbornness, God shows great grace

He leads the people to Elim
12 springs, or wells … enough for one for each of the tribes
70 palm trees … enough for each one of the elders/family leaders (Ex 24)

An oasis, a place of rest and restoration
A foretaste of things to come … but not the ultimate destination

Here we find that God is not just a Faithful Provider, but a Wonderful Healer:
Jehovah raphe (rophe) … the God who heals, restores, cures, wellness and soundness.
God’s faithfulness…not a question of IF God will provide, but HOW and WHEN, thru what MEANS.

Elim is the oasis they wanted all along
God graciously guided them to Elim, but only after Marah

To Follow God is to enter the Wilderness,
knowing that your Redeemer is also your Provider
Knowing that you are being led
Knowing that you will be provided for

The Lord takes us from bitterness to sweetness
From lack to abundance

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

From faithlessness to faithfulness???

Once the people see God’s grace as Provider thru miraculous means… and they never grumble again! Right?!?!

That’s all it took with me…one tough time, one bout of c/o, one time seeing God’s gracious provision and I haven’t c/o since.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Greater than the miracle of the sweet water is the miraculous steadfast love of God
[16:1 > stayed at Elim about 5 weeks, then they set out into … the Wilderness of Sin]

17:1 and they came to Rephidim … “Resting Place”…and there was NO WATER.”

Bells should have been going off, Pavlovian response should have kicked in, and the people should have immediately thought … WHAT?

People do what? Grumble AGAIN

We want to step into the pages and grab them by the hair and yell “wake up, stupid!”
1 Cor 10:11-13 should strike us like thirst struck the Israelites (READ)

Quarrelling … but it gets inflated here a bit for us

Phillip Ryken says of these verses that the Israelites were:
Demanding God’s provision (17:2) insisting on getting things when and how you want
Denying God’s protection (17:3) that has been clearly demonstrated
Testing God’s presence (17:7) questioning “is God among us?”

See how things have actually escalated:
In ch 15, God was testing the people
Here and now, who’s testing who?

Charging the life-giving God with murderous treason
Calling God unfaithful to His word

This is the downward spiral of discontent, of complaining, and the fruit of bitterness once it’s blossomed

Notice the name change of the places: from “resting place” to “test and strive”

In James, the words for “trial” and “temptation” are the same
It’s our reaction to it that determines how it’s named

That which should be a “resting place”, becomes a place of “testing and contention”

We begin getting Nostalgic about what our life was like before God messed it up
History: 14:11, 16:3, 17:3
looking back at Egypt AS IF it were the promised land!

Nostalgia is selective memory, with all the bad parts cut out
Happy Days without the Cold War
Mayberry without the entrenched racism
Our life in the crippling slavery of sin without the death it brings

To follow God is to enter the Wilderness…
Not to die of thirst, but to thirst for what truly and only satisfies!!!

God wants us to find in him our perfect rest, perfect oasis in him

He wants us in a position of prayer and dependence on him
To the extent that we would even turn our backs on what we need (fast) trust him all the more

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Once again, be amazed at the grace of God
God was on the stand, but very well could have put on his robes of judgment

READ Ps 105:41-42 … God, in His faithfulness, provided

He takes his Staff:
represented God’s power and authority
to strike is to judge

And what is struck?
God could have easily struck the rebellious people
But instead he strikes the rock, and life giving water poured out

1 Cor 10:4 and the rock was Christ
Strike of judgment should have fallen on the people (Isa 53)
But it fell on him, and life flowed out of him

READ Jn 4:13-14 provides water of eternal life

Here you are, in the heat of trial, drenched in the sweat of struggle and covered in the dust of doubt

And the water is flowing out of the rock that is Christ

The invitation still stands for us today, and will continue to stand:

READ Rev 22:17