Title: There Is No Water to Drink
Contents
there is no water to drink
Exodus 17:1-7
The place where the Israelites came out of Egypt following God's guidance was in the wilderness. It is a hot place during the day and cold at night. A place where there is no place to eat and drink with poisonous insects. In short, it is not a place for people to live. However, you must pass through to reach the promised land. In this sense, the Exodus was a training process for the Israelites as they went through the wilderness. The Promised Land is not just about eating and drinking in abundance. It is to remember and serve God the Creator. More important than picking and eating a cluster of grapes the size of a watermelon is to walk with God and fear God. That is the way to live.
Since the Israelites' life in the wilderness is a road that is going through danger and inconvenience, they must enter into God. So God gave the pillar of cloud and fire. We must rely only on God's guidance. If you serve God, suffering will end, and it will not be just a level of comfortable life. The important thing is to maintain a certain relationship with God. It is not a matter of good or bad on earth, it is about God becoming God.
The suffering the Bible speaks of is separation from God. In God, suffering is a passing process. No matter how successful you are, being apart from God is painful. However, no matter how much crisis we face, we can overcome if we meet God. To teach this, the people of Israel meet the “Sea of the Red Sea”. God saves the people of Israel who are complaining and clamoring. He made them cross on dry land. He taught and showed God's good guidance. But I can't go for a few days. After crossing the Red Sea, we went through the wilderness of Sur for 3 days. There is no water and I am thirsty. When I arrived at Mara and drank the water, it was bittersweet. The people resent Moses again. distrust God. Nevertheless, God healed the bitter water through Moses. In chapter 16, he provides food with manna and quail. And Chapter 17 is today's text.
Notice in verse 1 that the people of Israel arrived at Rephidim according to God's command and their course. But it's disappointing. There is no water to drink again. I came here, but there is no water. I followed God's command and the course, but there was no water. Have you ever been obedient, but can you face hardship or suffering? It can be. What should we do when we obey God's commands, but there is no water to drink? The Israelites quarreled with Moses. Test God. I'm sorry. The fact that it came out of Egypt itself is a problem. Trying to reverse the fundamentals. I forget why I came out and where I am going. They forgot the God who made them cross the sea and drink water.
Their reaction reveals the extreme form of unbelief that has nothing to do with God. The people of Israel are interested in water, not God. God is not everything, but drinking water, eating well and living well is the purpose. We are not going to the God-fearing people who are worthy of the Promised Land, we are testing God.
It is difficult if the dimensions of what you are pursuing are different. When what you want isn't met, you feel free to resent and complain. And they use their wisdom to express and challenge the injustice of God's guidance. (Verse 3) “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock from thirst?” Their unbelief attempts to destroy God's plan by highlighting Moses' errors. distrust God. It's hasty. Don't we have something like this today?
Look at what Moses did. Points out the attitude of unbelief toward Israel that protests (17:2). He had discerning spiritual wisdom. The unbelief of the Israelites was a test of God. It's a spiritual matter. Our spiritual attitude is to be discerning. Don't be fooled. And they cried out to God (verse 4). Ask God for help. We act according to God's command (verse 6). We need to open our eyes to the way God leads us. In a place where there is only a rock where there is no water to drink, God prepares and supplies bedrock water. He is a God who has been imprisoned but makes it come out by itself. He was sold as a slave, but it is God who makes him the prime minister there.
Difficulties may arise. But that's not the end. God never gives up until He completes us. Moses' prayer and obedience made millions of people and livestock drink water. You must pray to the end.
You must obey to the end. Please rely on God when there is no water wherever you look.