Gtcotr/ws041223
Deuteronomy 32:31 For our enemy’s rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies know this.
God sent Moses to Egypt for a purpose. God wanted to deliver the Children of Israel from slavery and set them free. God had a plan to take them from bondage in Egypt to abundance in Promised Land. The Israelites had always served Pharoah in Egypt but in the Promised Land they and their children would serve God. First however, they must be led across a wilderness and through hardships … the journey would not always be easy.
Moses told Pharoah to let the God’s Children go but Pharoah refused and instead, made it harder on them. The Israelites began to complain to Moses and about Moses. Their initial expectations did not include enduring hardships. They blamed Moses for their trouble. Instead of seeing the plan of God for their future, they were only focused on their moment. This is the same mistake people have made throughout history.
Finally, after 10 plagues, Pharoah released the Children of Israel, and they left Egypt on their way to the land God promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Israelites had barely got on the road before they encountered their first trouble. Pharoah decided to pursue them and bring them back into bondage to their old ways of life. God dealt swiftly with that situation, as He would do with each of their enemies all along the way. However, it was not before they all began to cry and complain and threaten to go back to their old ways.
This pattern of complaint over every hardship and hurtle became more than Moses could endure. God always came through for His Children, but the incessant selfishness and constant murmuring was something even God got tired of before it was over. In fact, the distrust and complaints finally caused them to have to spend an extra 40 years living outside of the Promise Land. God allowed all of the complainers to die in the wilderness.
Often the enemies of God had a greater respect of God than did His Children. God never failed His Children, and with every hardship He continued to show them how much He cared.
Exodus 17
1 ¶ Then all the congregation
of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Zin,
according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; but there
was no water for the people to drink.
2 Therefore the people
contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” And Moses
said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?”
3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the
people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand
your rod with which you struck the river, and go.
6 “Behold, I will stand
before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water
will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight
of the elders of Israel.
7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Massah
= Trial; Temptation … on the rock in Horeb, the Mount of God.
Meribah = Quarrel; Strife …
Some years later the Children of Israel were still wandering in the wilderness, and they came once again to Kadesh. Guess what … there was no sign of water, and the people were afraid they would die of thirst.
Numbers 20 NKJV
4 “Why have you brought up
the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should
die here?
5 “And why have you made us come up out of
Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or
figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”
6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of
the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their
faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them.
7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
8 “Take the rod; you and your
brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their
eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of
the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”
9 So Moses took the rod from
before the LORD as He commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron
gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now,
you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?”
11 Then Moses lifted his hand
and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the
congregation and their animals drank.
12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron,
“Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have
given them.”
13 This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the LORD, and He was hallowed among them.
· Meribah = Quarrel; Strife … in Kadesh
Strike the Rock – Speak to the Rock … Moses struck the Rock twice.
1 Corinthians 10:4 And (our fathers) all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
·
Jesus
Christ was smitten once for the sins of all mankind.
·
He
will not be struck a second time.
·
Water
came out of the Rock to quench the thirst of God’s children because of God’s
goodness, not because of the strike.
·
Living
water is intended to pour forth from Jesus merely for the asking.
·
At
one time harsh sacrifice moved the hand of God … not anymore.
· Now … Prayer moves the hand of God.
Psalms 78
19 Yes, they spoke against
God: They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, And the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?”
32 In spite of this they still sinned, And did not believe in His wondrous works.
35 Then they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.
38 And He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them …
My Take-Aways
1.
Every
one of us has sinned and fallen short of the God’s grace. (Romans 3:23)
2.
We
all deserve to go to hell and pay for our sins, but we don’t have to because
Jesus did it for us. (Romans 6:23)
3. Anyone who asks Jesus to be the Lord of their life will be forgiven and saved for all eternity. (Romans 10:13)
Is there any reason in your wildest imagination why you would want to spend an eternity in hell? Then pray with me now … now!
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in Him shall never perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
I
would like to encourage you to consider the Rock of your salvation. How is your
Rock different from the other rocks people depend on? What is better about your
Rock than the rock the world serves?
