Is the Lord Among Us, or Not?

 

Is the Lord Among Us, or Not?

 

Exodus 17:1-7
17:1 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
17:2 The people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?"
17:3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?"
17:4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."
17:5 The LORD said to Moses, "Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
17:6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
17:7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

Here's an excellent example of why we shouldn’t take the Bible too literally, at least in its English translations—“Sin” is a territory, not a condition! And, it was a “dry” township, apparently. The irony of this passage is palpable—the people gripe to Moses that they are thirsty, and then Moses gripes to God. God tells Moses to strike the rock, and water gushes out. Later, of course, Moses will take matters into his OWN hands, strikes another rock when he is told to merely speak to it, and he loses his ticket to the promised land. This is reason #2 why we shouldn’t take the Bible so literally—God certainly did not keep Moses from the promised land because of the “pet rock” incident, but that is what we are told. The writer is adding this story as an “obedience” object lesson, one we should NOT take literally. 

 

Incidentally, I’ve heard both Christian apologists AND science-minds types give lengthy explanations as to how this was some special kind of rock that harbored quantities of water, and the act of striking it with his staff kind of “kicked the spigot” and out rushed some water. Both explanations are ridiculous. God made the rock, God made Moses, God made the staff, and God gave the command. When Moses did as God commanded, God brought forth water, which God made, also. End of story, or at least this part of it. Apologists want to give a “practical” story for how this could have happened, and persons of science are wont to provide scientific reasoning. Why? They try to do the same thing when it comes to the story of Jonah, about how he could have survived in the belly of a whale or a fish for three days, and WHAT kind of sea-going creature that would have needed to be. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ROCK, and IT’S NOT ABOUT THE WHALE! These are merely the “conveyances” God used to meet the needs of God’s people. This is the purpose of the story. Add to that the fact that God meets their needs even when they grumble. It would appear that most of the time, their grumbling bothered the prophet more than it did God. Pastors should know that this is still true today. WE get more upset about the people’s grumbling than GOD does.

 

Still, this “grumbling” is a deeply human problem. There just seem to be some personality types that grumble. The dictionary defines “grumble” thusly: “complain about something in a bad-tempered way.” I’m sure that for some, grumbling is a kind of expression of grief. They grumble when some dream is shattered, or a vision is lost, at least for a season. They may grumble in true grief over the loss of a beloved pet, a friend, or a loved one. This type of grumbling is certainly understandable. But what of folk who grumble as a response to a minor slight? Or when the price of gas goes up two cents? Paul addressed grumbling in the early church, most of which he saw as an ungrateful response to the good that God was trying to do in their midst. In this sense, ancient Israel under Moses was more like a church. 

 

I’m a private grumbler. I don’t grumble much, publicly, as I try to practice what I have always preached: turn your troubles and challenges over to God; rejoice that God cares, and will partner with us in addressing them; and then work for a solution, in full faith that one will be forthcoming. But when I’m home alone, and I spill my coffee, make a stupid error of some sort, or just get ticked off at what I hear in the news, I grumble. I suppose it is a way to let off steam so I don’t do something worse, or maybe its just my inner dialogue getting a bit chafed? Whatever, it “feels good” to grumble to myself, drop it, move on, and fix the problem. It keeps the problem from escalating.

 

The opposite happens in community, though. When a few veteran grumblers, who seem to have almost a sixth sense about things worth grumbling about are about to happen, start to grumble, others who are less prescient soon join in. In groups, grumbling can be quite contagious, and will spiral into a real snit. Grumbling in groups can multiply small problems in number, magnitude, or both, real fast. Leaders in these groups or communities soon find that the grumbling ITSELF has become a pox on the house, and often spend hours trying to soothe the grumbling before even being able to diagnose the stimulus that set it in motion. And, of course, the original cause is way too often a minor issue, which sets the LEADER off on a grumbling streak. “I have too many other real issues to deal with without being bogged down by this!” Have you ever heard that from a leader? A pastor? Out of your own lips? I’ll bet you have. Again, grumbling is contagious, it escalates, and it obfuscates more serious issues that the community may be facing. No wonder the leaders in the Bible do not treat it too kindly! As mentioned earlier, however, God seems to show great measures of grace with it, even before that word doesn’t actually emerge until the Christ Event in the New Testament.

 

In today’s text, it’s not that the “problem” isn’t real that sets the people to grumbling. They are thirsty, and Rephidim has no easily accessible water. They grumble, and Moses loses it. He even brings God into his objection: “Why do you test the Lord?” Now, not having water to drink is a serious issue, no doubt, but so are the almost innumerable list of challenges Israel has faced before this, and God has always shown a way out. Moses, like any of us “good” pastors, like to lovingly(?) remind the people of this fact, sometimes with our teeth in full grinding mode. 

 

It is disappointing to pastors, prophets, and leaders when the people seem to so quickly forget what WE or GOD have done on their behalf, and maybe even yesterday. That disappointment can so quickly turn to anger. In this story, I’m kind of thinking that there really isn’t a danger of Moses being stoned by his own people, but he just feels so defeated by their lack of faith in him, and their grumbling, that he just thinks they might. We call that paranoia. It can ensue when we let the complaining get to us. Of course, Moses is a pretty shrewd operator, and possibly he takes this “stoning” threat to God as a way to coerce God into fixing the problem. God does what God does best, and gives Moses a plan of action, and one that is clearly designed to both restore Israel to faith, and provide a few eyewitnesses of what God does on their behalf, who will hopefully become “ambassadors” of hope the next time the people start grumbling. This would serve to take some of the pressure off Moses, would encourage the people by reminding them that God WILL act to save them, and these “elders” are eventually going to be leading the people someday, anyway, so they might as well get schooled now. Incidentally, this story foreshadows another later incident, as I mentioned earlier, when Moses is faced with the water issue again, and takes matters into his own hands, striking the rock, rather than following God’s command to “speak” to the rock. This should serve as a cautionary tale to us all that we must keep listening for God’s guidance and direction, rather than simply assuming that what God did to get us out of some fix before, will be the same way we should approach it if it reoccurs. We should remember that God is a creative God, and may have a better way the second time around, and one that has a deeper “object lesson” for us, as well. We pastors often fall prey to the “it worked before” mentality. I have never understood how any pastor could simply “can” her or his sermons and just keep repeating them from church to church. Maybe God has something novel for us to say about a lectionary text? And almost assuredly, the context or sitz im leben of this congregation is markedly different than the one we wrote this sermon for twelve years ago? Yet, we keep “striking the same old rock” and expect God to gush out fresh water. No wonder we never get to the “promised land.” I made it my practice to never repeat a sermon, but took the time to study the passage anew, listen for what God wanted me to share with THESE people in THIS time in THIS place, and constructed a new message. That’s not to say that I might not repeat a poignant illustration, or share an insight from a good commentary over again, but the sermon is an “event” for what the church is facing now, in my mind. Maybe this time, we “speak” to the rock, not haul off an wail on the poor thing.

 

Ultimately, the key the today’s lesson from this text is summarized in the line: “Is the Lord Among Us, or Not?” We know the answer, that OF COURSE God is among God’s people AND loves us even when we grumble, but most of our people are still posing this question, and are STILL of the belief that “grumbling” to God will keep you from the “promised land.” God IS, and God won’t. If we truly believe in the God of the Bible, this God will always be with us. Jesus himself said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Because God is with us, developing the discipline to not grumble in our group, and instead looking forward with great expectations as to how God will partner with us to overcome the present problem or challenge, is the preferred direction to go. Prayer and praise are superior to griping, grumbling, and complaining, they are so much healthier for the Body of Christ, and they certainly are easier on your pastor’s nerves. And pastors, remember—God IS among us, so you don’t have to keep “whapping the rock,” especially when this metaphor may be referring to whipping your congregation when they don’t “behave” the way you like. Remember, too, that God can give us a dose of God’s patience with the grumbling, too. 

 

So, “Is the Lord Among Us, or Not?” As Mr. Wesley said, “The best of all is GOD IS WITH US!” Amen!