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Exodus 17:1-7 – Praying through the Bible #31 – A Prayer from Testing
Nowadays they don’t stone the prophets, they just fire the preachers. That “Perryism” is brought to you courtesy of a preacher who has been fired…and thankful he didn’t get stoned. David Tant, “comforted” me saying, “No preacher is worth his salt, who hasn’t been fired.” While surely hyperbole, there is truth. In Exodus 17.4, Moses is afraid of being stoned, afraid of his own people, his family. Israel does not like where Moses is leading – to places without abundant water. Truth is, like all godly leaders, Moses is not leading; he is following…God is leading.
After grumbling about no water, God healed the waters plus led them to 12 springs (Ex 15). Israel once more finds they lack water (Ex 17). Instead of trusting, they grumble all over again against Moses and the Lord. But this time, they add to their sin of grumbling the sin of testing the Lord. Exodus 17.7 says, “[Moses] named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, ‘Is Yahweh among us, or not?'” Parlayed into today’s troubles, “Where is God when bad things happen to good people?” In my opinion, this test is not so much a question of God’s power, but of His character: “How much does God love us?”
They put God to the test by withholding full faith unless He constantly demonstrates “Yahweh is among us.” God must become their puppet. Devastating Egypt, opening the Red Sea, sweetening the water, and raining bread from heaven were not enough to perpetually win their trust. God has the right to test us, but we have no right to test God.
In answering their prayer, God has Moses take elders with him (17.5), which would show Moses and Israel other leaders are following God too. Plus God says take the rod used to strike the Nile which would remind the people “God has been and is with you.” God then commands Moses to strike a rock. Instead of Moses being hit with stones, Moses will hit a rock. I like the irony. Water flows. People shut up. For now.
Israel doesn’t understand trust. Do we? Trust is built in the past so when needed in the future it is already firm in place. Trust is not needed when times are good. We must remember that the God of the past is the God of the present and is the God of the future. Unlike Israel, we have not had the benefit of seeing miracles done right before our eyes. Our trust is not in what we have seen, but in what we have read, and have experienced by faith. And yet it is the same, because our trust is in Who performed the miracles and made the promises; promises we have accepted as ours.
Prayer Challenge: How do we act when mistreated? How do we treat leaders? How much do we trust God in times of trouble? Have we tested God’s love? In prayer, let us search. Sometimes it is only in prayer we are completely honest with ourselves.
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