Thirsting & Testing

Sermon 40 in Series

Exodus 17:1-7
[1] All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. [2] Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” [3] But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” [4] So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” [5] And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6] Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. [7] And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.   What does testing accomplish in our lives? How does God use necessities not just luxuries?
2.   How has God solved Israel’s problems up this point? How should they have responded to this present crisis?
3.   How does our response often mirror that of Israel? What would it look like for you to take God’s past faithfulness/provision more seriously when tempted to grumble?
4.   How does this account illustrate the heightening of sin? Why should this caution us against letting sins continue in our lives?
5.   What does it mean to test God? How is Jesus’ temptation a hopeful reversal of Israel’s actions?
6.   How does this passage further emphasize God’s grace? How does he provide abundantly, and what does this imply for us?
7.   Why did Moses change the name of the place? How do such reminders lead God’s people away from sin?

References: Exodus 16:4; Psalm 95:8-9; Matthew 4:5-7; Deuteronomy 6:16; Psalm 78:15-16.