Sermon What is God Doing? Ex. 17: 1-7

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
Sermon What is God Doing? Ex. 17: 1-7
March 27, 2011

We are continuing to look at our questions about God. Two weeks ago we started by asking “What did God say?” We found that God has given us limited freedom and asks that we obey his commands. But we follow our lusts and desire what is prohibited causing us to lose the blessings that we already had. Then last week we asked about God’s plan to deal with this problem and found that God has decided to bless us richly so that we can be blessings for others and that all the families of the world will be blessed. So we are on a journey from slavery to our lusts and desires and on our way to the promises of God. But as we will soon see there are potholes on the road from Slavery to Promised Land. Before we hit one let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Ex. 17: 1-7
1From 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. 

2The 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?” 
3But 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?”

4So Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What shall I do with this people?
They are almost ready to stone me.”

5The 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.
6I 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.
7He called the place Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD,
saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

I usually do not talk about baseball from this pulpit. But with Spring Training almost over and the Major League season about to start I just can’t resist. You see I was a Washington Senators fan while growing up, and suffered a broken heart when they left in 1971. For thirty-four years I prayed for a team to return and was overjoyed when the Nationals came to DC in 2005. I listened to their games on the internet in California and now I can watch them on TV.

In 2005 one of my most favorite players was a pitcher named Chad Cordero. Chad had a strong arm and could throw a baseball 95 miles an hour. He was the closer, and would enter in the ninth inning to preserve a lead. But Chad suffered the fate of many young pitchers. He hurt his shoulder and underwent surgery the type that pitchers rarely return from. Chad was never the same and was released by the Nationals. He has bounced around several teams and this year is trying to catch on with Toronto.

Shortly after leaving the Nationals Chad married his college sweetheart, Jamie, and they have had two children. One day they dropped the kids, eighteen month old Riley and the eleven week old baby Tehya, at the Grandparent’s house for a much needed parent’s night out. Grandma put the sleeping baby on the bed and checked her from time to time. Everything was fine,. The baby was sleeping normally. And then baby died. Tehya, just 11 weeks old was dead. The doctors had no idea what happened. The baby was not sick. The Grandmother did nothing wrong. The autopsy was inconclusive. When there is no explanation doctors call this Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, SIDS. This was last December. The Corderos experienced inconsolable grief. They blamed themselves for what happened. And somehow they had to get ready for Christmas. (Adapted from Barry Svrluga, The Washington Post, 3/21/2011)

At a time like this all we can do is ask God why. Why did this happen? Why, God, did you allow this? We complain about these potholes in the road from slavery to promise. At the root of these questions is our fear that maybe God is not around anymore. Maybe God has left us, abandoned us. Maybe God is dead.

The Israelites experienced this feeling. They were on the journey from slavery to Promised Land. They had seen the great miracles of God who had freed them from slavery in Egypt and was leading them to the promise God had made to Abram. But suddenly they faced a crisis, a pothole in the road. Their water ran out. They feared that they would die. They should have had great confidence in Moses. After all he had tended his father-in-laws sheep in this very desert for 40 years. Surely he knew every watering hole. There was no need to fear about water. But underlying all of this was their fear that God had left them, disappeared.

Even Jesus experienced this feeling. In the incarnation Jesus needed to feel all of our emotions. He needed to experience the potholes on the road from slavery to promise. On the cross he felt the absence of God and cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

So when times get tough, when we lose a child, or lose a job, or lose our health we feel that we have been abandoned by God. And this we fear more than anything else because we were created to be with our creator. God’s absence scares us to death. Of course the Bible teaches us that God is always with us. When the Corderos lost their child, God was there. When the Israelites ran out of water, God was there. When Jesus cried out from the cross, God was there. Remember the promise, Jesus Christ is Emmanuel. In Christ, God is always with us.

Whenever we fear the God is far from us there are three things that scripture teaches us to do. So lets take a look at each of these.

The first thing to do when God seems to be missing is to pray. Moses cried out to God. He used the prayer most pastors have spoken at one time or another, “Oh God, they are about to stone me.” But seriously, whenever God seems absent the first thing we have to do is to call out. God will hear our prayers and will respond. Prayer is the only way we can be assured that God is with us and we not alone. We when are overwhelmed with fear, experience an indescribable loss, feel abandoned and alone we need to first turn to God in prayer and rest in his loving arms.

The second thing we must do whenever we experience the absence of God is to get together with other believers. Moses called together the elders. As a group they faced the problem together. So too with us, when God seems distant we need to be with others in prayer and worship. It temping, when tragedy strikes, to stay away from church. But church is exactly where you need to be. Remember that whenever a group of two or three believers join together and pray, God will be in their midst. So when you experience the absence of God always get together with other believers and pray.

And the third thing we must do whenever it seems that we can’t find God is to remember all the blessings God has given us in the past. Moses picked up his staff reminding the people that God was with them in Egypt when the sea was parted and they were freed from slavery. That staff reminded the people of God great providence. And the water coming from the rock assured then that God was
still with them. So whenever God seems distant count you blessings, remember how God has so richly blessed you and your family and then you will begin to feel God’s presence.

Sadly the Corderos seem to be approaching their grief the way many people do, with hard work. Chad is trying to reenter baseball and has been in camp with the Toronto Blue Jays. He hoped that baseball would be his savior. But it has been reported that he hides in the bathroom stall, crying. There is only one savior who can save us from the potholes on the journey from slavery to promise, only one savior who hears our prayers, only one savior who had experienced the feeling of being abandoned by God, and only savior who sits at God's right hand. That savior is the one we worship today, Jesus Christ.

The Israelites did not die of thirst. Moses struck the rock with the rod that had freed the Israelites from slavery. The people realized that through Moses’ prayer and through faithfulness of the elders that God was with them. They had never been abandoned. They had never been alone. They realized that God was faithful and would never stop loving them in spite of all the potholes from on the road from slavery to promise. After learning this lesson the Israelites were ready for their next blessing from God. They were at the foot of Mt. Horeb where God was just about to give them instructions and laws, which if followed would lead to a blessed life. Moses was just about to ascend the Mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. So we see that as we travel on the road from slavery to promise we are blessed along the way with God's word.

One the blessing that we have been promised by God is the blessing to be satisfied whenever God seems to be missing. Jesus taught us that all who hunger and thirst for a right relationship with God will be filled. This is a great blessing we have received because our God loves us so much.

Everlasting Father, we thank you for your steadfast love. We thank you for always being right there with us, especially when we need you the most. Amen.