The God Who Provides

Good morning brothers and sisters. It’s a privilege to be with you today. I bring you greetings from Cross Culture Church Mysore. We remember you often and we pray for you and we are very grateful for the partnership and the gospel that we have with Gospel Life Church.

As Dion mentioned, I’m Sam Daniel. I serve as one of the elders in Cross Culture and God has blessed us with two more elders, Atman and Edison, who serve alongside me. Would you turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 17, verses 1 through 7.

Exodus chapter 17, verses 1 through 7. Let me read that out for us. “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.

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?’ 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?’

So Moses cried to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ 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.

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. 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?’” Shall we look to the Lord in prayer? Lord, as we look at your word, would you prepare our hearts and would you help us to receive?

Would you plant your word down deep in us? Would you cause it to bear fruit? Open up our ears to hear and lead us, O Lord, to the truth. Where else will we go, O Lord? Where else will we go? You have the words of eternal life. Show us Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Tests are hard. Tests freak me out. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s the case with many of us, barring a few exceptions that are there, sometimes a day before a test or an exam I just can’t sleep. And even if I do, there are nightmares that I’ve either gotten up late or haven’t studied for the test, and I wake up with a startle. Even now, when I don’t have to take any test, I still get

those nightmares and it just freaks me out. Tests are hard, and it is so. Spiritual tests are hard too, sometimes. In fact, spiritual tests are very hard. A test, a spiritual test, or a trial as it is — that the word is used interchangeably, test and trial — is a situation of inconvenience that the Lord takes us through to help us see where we are and to help us and to and to push us where we need to be spiritually.

In other words, it’s meant to sanctify us, to help us to see our sin, to help us see who God is more clearly, to stir up our faith and to spur us on to obedience. That’s what spiritual tests achieve and are meant for.

In the passage that I just read and the passage before us today, the Israelites are going through a test. Exodus 17 verses 1 through 7, it records for us a test in a series of tests that the people of Israel are taken through by the Lord. They are just out of Egypt. If you know where we are in the storyline of Scripture, they’re just out of Egypt. They have been delivered by the mighty hand of God. They have been saved through the waters.

They’ve come out. There’s rejoicing and there’s singing and there’s dancing that we see in Exodus chapter 15. And right after that, as they begin their wilderness journey, God brings them to this place at Rephidim in Exodus chapter 17. And even as we see this text today, this morning, my goal for us is to just see the immense provision of God. To see the immense provision of God through our times of testing and to joyfully submit to what he’s doing in our lives.

Let me repeat that for us. To see the immense providence of God through our times of testing and to joyfully submit to what he’s doing in our lives. So we’re going to look at this text in three parts. First is the test itself, the test. Second, the rebellion. And third, the providence. Three simple parts: the test, the rebellion, the providence. The test. Look at, look at verse one. The Lord is leading them on in this journey and he’s taking Israel through a series of tests, like I mentioned. So the first test that they have once they come out of Egypt and as they make their way across the Red Sea is recorded for us in Exodus chapter 15.

Exodus 15:25, the Lord leads them again to a place where there’s no water and the narrator tells us that he leads them there to test them. The people grumble. Moses intercedes for them and the Lord provides. He leads them to 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees.

In chapter 16, which follows after, it again records for us three more tests that Israel has taken through. And the narrator again tells us these are tests, things in the Israelites’ life. And all of these tests are related to food and the Lord giving them manna. That’s what is recorded for us in 16. And that kind of sets the stage for Exodus chapter 17, which is the fifth test that the people of Israel are going through. So that’s the context. Look at verse 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 to drink.” That’s the fifth test. No water to drink for the Israelites. This was a familiar test. Think about a question paper that you get again for the same time, the same question paper you receive and I get a second time.

How cool is that and how easy is that? Surely they should have learned from their previous experience in Exodus chapter 15. Do you notice also as I read the first verse, did you notice how the Lord sovereignly directs them to come to this place?

They moved according to the commandment of the Lord. God sovereignly brings them to this place of inconvenience. He sovereignly leads them to this situation of inconvenience to just show their heart’s condition, to show who He is, to stir up their hearts, to know Him, to put their trust in Him, submit to him. That’s what a test is meant for.

But sadly, what you see even as this test is given to them is a rebellion which breaks out and is recorded for us in verses 2 to 4. The test leads to a rebellion. And if you notice the rebellion, it's recorded for us in three statements which the people of Israel make. If you look into your Bibles, the first statement is recorded for us in verse 2, 2, another in verse 3, and the last one in verse 7. Three statements which sums up the rebellion of the people of God.

Verse 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?’” You just see the rebellion and the response going up a notch higher than the previous times. Even as you read through the scriptures, even as you read through Exodus, it just keeps going up and up. And so it is here. They say, “Give us water, give it to us now.” It was a demanding of provision from the Lord. They just received water. They just have seen the hand of God in them seeing these twelve springs of water and leading them to seventy palm trees. Surely there should have been — they should have understood.

Surely they should have responded better in what Moses tells them. “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” Because Moses knew that when they were quarreling with him, it’s not actually him that they are quarreling with. It’s the Lord that they are having these issues with. It was meant to be a test for Israel, but you see how things have flipped around. They were testing the Lord through this situation of inconvenience. They were in turn asking God and looking at God and saying, “Are you good enough? We’re here with no water. Are you really good enough?” And if you are

prove it. They were demanding provision from the hand of God. And I just want us to think, we might look at the Israelites and say, okay, they’re really bad, what they risk, how they respond is really bad. But then many times when we look at our own lives and the situations of try and trials that the Lord takes us through, the test that he takes us through, aren’t we at similar places in our response to the Lord?

Aren’t we at times demanding provision from the Lord as if he owes it to us, as if it’s our right to have all of these things? Some of us just take out our anger directly at the Lord in our times of testing. How could he do this? The situation of inconvenience that should not be there, this sickness or this persecution or this issue at home or this issue at work, this needs to be removed now. I just can’t take it anymore. It has to go.

Instead of patiently waiting for the Lord, instead of humbling ourselves and seeking Him for deliverance, we take out our anger directly on the Lord. Sometimes we take out our anger against those whom the Lord has placed around us when we go through our times of trials. Just like the Israelites, they took it all out on Moses whom the Lord had placed over them. We see a situation of inconvenience, we get grumpy or sad or bitter, and who faces the brunt of that behavior?

It’s your spouse, it’s your boss at work, your parents, your church members, your pastor. You take out your grumbling, your frustration, anger against them and you just continue to be in that state, do we not? And we just justify our sinful behavior saying, “I’m going through this.”

And by just staying in that place and being grumpy or bitter, aren’t we trying to arm-twist God to give us what we want? In other words, aren’t we demanding providence from God in such situations? The rebellion intensifies. We at the second statement that they make, verse 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?’” They were questioning now on God’s promises. You brought us here to die, we livestock. What was the Lord doing? He was bringing them out of slavery to the promised land. He was leading them through every step of the way. Back in chapter 6, even as they were about to begin this journey, even as they were about to see God’s deliverance, he gives

them these seven promises. When you go back home, you could read chapter 6, and he gives this seven I will statements. Just beautifully, God reminds and reiterates, “This is what I will do.” He says, I will bring you out of Egypt. I will deliver you from slavery. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.

I will take you to be my people. I will be your God. I will bring you into the land that I swore and I will give it to you as a possession. These were the promises that the Lord made, and the Lord was working through all of these promises, and there was already many of these promises which they’ve seen coming to fulfillment. Now what they’re saying, all that’s important for us.

We don’t care what you’re doing. All that’s important for us is what you’ve deprived me of right now. You’re not going to fulfill your promise. Rather, you brought us here to kill us. They were so serious about this that Moses records for us, says they were willing to even get rid of whom the Lord had chosen to lead them to the promised land.

Moses tells God, verse 4, “They are ready to stone me.” They didn’t care now about the promises of God. Instead, they were claiming, “Lord, you’re disloyal. You’re not going to fulfill your promise. You’ve cheated us. And I’m out of this relationship.” In our trials too, we start questioning God’s promises many a times. We question if His promises to us are true.

And many a times we behave as if God’s promises don’t exist at all. We just get so caught up in the minute details of our situation of inconvenience. It could be small, it could be great. I’m not trying to demean the situation that we are going through.

Any trial that the Lord takes us through is painful. But as we go through those things, the promises of God seem to take a backseat. All that God has said, all that His word says, instead of trusting in those promises, all of it just takes a back seat.

The greater, grander picture of what the Lord is doing, how He’s leading us on to a place, a land of rest, is just pushed to the background. And all that’s focused on right now is that situation of inconvenience, that which we are deprived of at this point, and that’s where all the focus goes in, does it not? Instead, we should be seeing test as a means through which we can enjoy these promises even more. This trial for Israel could have been a great situation for them to depend on the Lord, to taste His goodness, to grow in their relationship with Him, and to grow in their trust with Him. But instead, they turn away from the Lord. The second statement, the third statement that the people of Israel make, it’s recorded for us

in verse 7. It takes it a notch higher. Look at the last part of verse 7 and the question that they ask. “Is the Lord among us or not?” What were they questioning now? His presence. “Are you there?” They had the pillar of cloud beside them, the pillar of fire leading them. Right before their eyes, they saw the mighty hand of God at work at the Red Sea. They saw the mighty hand of God in Egypt as they were delivered out from slavery. And the question that they ask now is, “Are you there?”

Do you see how sin, our sin, blinds us from seeing who God is? Don’t we question his presence at times, just like the Israelites? All of creation beaming with this glory, the material blessings that God has given us, the providence that we’ve received each day declare that he is our provider. The people of God that he has placed around us reminding us of his faithfulness to us, His Spirit that dwells within us, given as a deposit, a guarantee.

In spite of all of these things, when we go through our trials, we question and we say, “Lord, where are you? Are you even seeing what I’m going through?” Even if we don’t ask this question aloud, just think about our responses many a times when we go through trials in the sin that we indulge in, in the secret sins that we give into, giving our situation of inconvenience as an excuse and we carry on indulging in these sins.

What are we essentially saying? The same question that the Israelites ask. “Is the Lord among us or not?” I don’t care. The test leads to an escalating rebellion which leads to the provision in verses 5 and 6. Now this whole passage, the way that the narrator has put this together is that this whole scene is portrayed like a courtroom.

We see that through the language that is used in the original in this particular text. Let me give you some examples of what that looks like. Do you see in verse 2 and verse 3 that there’s a word quarrel that is used? In the original, this is no ordinary quarreling. It was in fact a legal term that was used and more like a lawsuit, more like a covenant break and a lawsuit that was filed against someone. That’s the language that is being used here. Again in verse 7, there’s a naming of the place. Do you see that in verse 7? It’s named Massah and Meribah. Massah means testing or lawsuit. Again, Meribah, quarreling or contending. Legal terms again that are used, as if this was a court setting, a courtroom. Moses records twice that

the people of Israel tested the Lord. Chapter verse 2, verse 7. Again, the Hebrew word that is used means a lawsuit, a charge that was made against someone. And so in this whole setting, whom is the charge made against? Charge against whom? It was against Moses. Moses, in fact, it was against God, who is God’s representative leading the people of Israel.

What were the charges that were made against God’s servant? “You aren’t giving us water. You’re here to kill us.” And they were telling the Lord, “You’re not amongst us.” In other words, Moses—in turn God—was being charged of capital offense, charged of treason, disloyalty. And what was the verdict that they were expecting out of this whole charge that they were bringing against the Lord?

Death. Death by stoning. “Stone Moses” was the complaint. This whole courtroom scene, it intensifies even further because of the language that is used. Look at what the Lord does even as these charges are made. Verse 5. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel.’” Now in this courtroom scene, what is the role of the elders? Witnesses. A jury now is being to observe the proceedings in the court. And he says, “Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.” Did you notice, the narrator says—does not say—“take the staff with which you parted the Red Sea”?

He doesn’t say that even though that is the most the most recent event that has happened. He doesn’t say, “Take the staff that turned into a serpent.” There’s a specific reason an incident is being called to attention as this rod is being mentioned.

What does he say? He says, “Take the staff with which you struck the Nile.” And as we read that, it should make us stop and think what happened when that rod was used to strike the Nile. That goes all the way back to the first plague, does it not?

When the rod was used to strike the Nile, the water which gave life to the Egyptians turned to blood. Was turned to something which brought death. Life-giving water turning to something which represented death. He says, “Take the elders, take the staff which was used to bring God’s judgment on those who opposed God’s people and that which brought deliverance to his people,” he says, “take that staff and you go before the people.”

And even as you read that, you can just feel the tension growing. The rod of judgment taken and as Moses walks through this, the people saw every time this rod was taken, something happened. Somebody is going to get hurt. And look at what God says.

“Behold, I will stand before you on the rock at Horeb and you shall strike the rock.” There are two words that I want you to pay attention to. First he says, “I will stand before you.” That courtroom scene, you remember that courtroom scene? Like a guilty party stands before the judge, God says, “I will stand before you.” God is standing before Moses who has this rod of judgment.

And he says, “I will stand on the rock,” identifying himself with the rock, and he says, “You shall strike that rock.” Do you see what God was symbolically saying through this incident? “I will take the judgment that the people of God deserve, that death sentence laid on me.” Who sinned in this whole ordeal, yell?

The people. They sinned willfully. They sinned treacherously. But do you see who takes the judgment in this trial? God himself. Brothers and sisters, even as we see this incident in Exodus 17, don't we see a glimpse of the gospel? Don't we see a glimpse of our own salvation because when Paul reads this incident he cannot stop himself from thinking of what is going on here if you will turn to first Corinthians chapter 10 all has this incident in his mind as he writes to the Corinthian church first 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 1 onwards.

Let me read that for us. “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.” That’s Exodus chapter 14. “And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food” — that’s Exodus chapter 16 — “and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” He says the rock was the pre-incarnate Christ, where we get a sign and a symbol of what Christ was gonna do much later. Right here at Rephidim, God was giving a picture of how he was gonna save his people, his great and grand plan of salvation. When the people had to be struck for their sin, the judgment was taken upon

by a substitute and that substitute was God himself. And as that rock was struck, he says the water shall come out of it and the people will drink. Do you see the reversal of what happens in Egypt? The rod of judgment that which gave life to the Egyptians to death.

But here as the rod of judgment because it went on God himself led to Israel receiving water that gave them life. Do you see the provision of God? Do you see the provision of God in not just giving them water, but most importantly, in not judging them according to what their sins deserved.

Provision of a substitute, substitute, provision of a sacrifice. It was an incident pointing forward to the greatest provision that man would receive, the greatest provision that man needs, the provision of God's own son who gives himself as a substitute for our sins and saves us from the wrath of God that we rightfully deserve.

Because many years later there would be a similar scene that would reoccur. People hurling insults, people hurling accusations. Here was a man, the incarnate Christ, walking towards his death, going on that cross and the rod of judgment going on him instead of you and Isaiah says this, “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and by his wounds we are healed.”

Dear friend, if you’re here this morning and you’ve not believed in Jesus, let me tell you this, your greatest need today is not that difficulty that you’re going through. Your greatest need is not to have a good job or a good family or a healthy life.

Your greatest need is for your sins to be forgiven. Your greatest need is for you to be saved from the wrath of God that you rightfully deserve. And here is Jesus who has provided a way for you to be saved from that wrath. He died so that those who believe in him can have their sins forgiven, can be restored into a relationship with him and enjoy that relationship through all eternity. And as you come to him and believe in what he’s done, he provides forgiveness for you, he satisfies you. Jesus says this in John 4:13.

In this conversation that he has with the Samaritan woman, he says, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” Referring to the water that she was trying to take out of the well. But he says, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

That’s what Jesus has to offer for us. You might be worried about the water that you’re not receiving today, the physical water that you’re not receiving today, but what you need, what your soul needs to be satisfied is for you to be restored into a relationship with Him. And Jesus has done that on the cross by taking our punishment on our behalf.

And He offers this to you. Would you repent? Would you believe in Jesus? Dear brothers and sisters, even as we see this provision, I want this provision as you see it to strengthen you in your time of testing right now. To strengthen your faith in your time of testing right now.

Because maybe you’re at a place like Rephidim today. Maybe you’re in this situation of inconvenience which the Lord has sovereignly brought to you at this time. It might be small, it might be great or it might be somewhere in between. Remember first of all that it’s the Lord who has brought you to that place. It’s according to the word of the Lord.

And even as you go through this trial, what should be front and center for you as you go through this time of trial is what Jesus has done on that cross. Because what you have is not a shadow. You have something real. You have the substance of what Jesus has done.

And he's taken that punishment and he has restored you into a relationship with him. He's given you his own son. And you have that relationship with him today. That's what needs to be front and center as you go through your time of testing even today.

May we remember as you go through our time of trials, oh I deserved so much more than the inconvenience that I'm going through today. I deserved eternal judgment but Jesus has taken it all and he has given me so much. My sins have been forgiven, my eternity has been sealed, and even if this trial that I'm going through ends in death, this is so much more to rejoice in what Christ has done for me. In our times of testing, may we remember, because Jesus died on the cross for me.

Even this trial that I'm going through, it's actually for my own good. He's showing me where I am spiritually and he's pushing me to where I ought to be in my spiritual life. It's a proof that I am a child of God. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, I have this relationship and he continues to work in my life, even today, amidst this trial that I'm going through.

And because of that, we can say, as James calls us to, “Count it all joy, my brothers,” verse “when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith, it produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” You see how our trials are meant to draw us closer to God, if we submit to what he is doing, if we see what he is doing through these trials, and if we submit to him joyfully, this is what happens in our lives.

You might be here this morning and you might be just telling, “I've just been like the Israelites in my own trial. I've complained, I've demanded, I've questioned God's promises, I've questioned his presence.” And even if you're there, what should be front and center for you if you believed in Jesus is the cross of Christ, to realize that you have forgiveness when you come to him in repentance, to realize that you have a relationship with him and his mercy is more than our sin, our questioning, and to come before him and say, “Lord, would you forgive me? I've done.”

Let this provision strengthen our faith. Let this provision also warn you. You look at verse 7, the place of this rebellion, Massah and Meribah, it's recorded in scripture. It's recorded for a reason. It was recorded to remind the people of Israel of their rebellion throughout their generations.

Did you notice or do you remember that this place is repeated multiple times in scripture? And wherever this place is mentioned, there is one command that is given. Do not harden your hearts, like at Massah, like at Meribah. Do not put the Lord to the test. It's there in the Old Testament, it's there in the New Testament. Several authors repeat that same word, same incident. In fact, in the passage that we just read, First Corinthians chapter 10, after telling the audience that the rock was Christ, he says these things took place as examples for us, to not be like them, to not grumble, do not ask the Lord. The author of Hebrews in chapter 3, he says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the rebellion, on the

day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test.” We need to hear this warning, we need to heed this warning, and not take God's grace in our lives for granted. To just continue sinfully questioning God, to justify our sinful behavior, to indulge in sin. Because brothers and sisters, what you have is not a blurred picture of the gospel, what you have is a clear picture of the gospel and what Christ has done, and there's absolutely no reason for us to continue in that same behavior, but rather when we see what Christ has done, to repent of our sin and

to turn to him immediately and not continue to harden our hearts. Paul continues in, sorry, the author of Hebrews continues in chapter 3 and verse 12, he says, “Take care brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the Living God, but exhort one another every day as long as it is, that none of you, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Exhort one another. When you see a brother or sister, as they go through their times of trial and testing, when you see them sinfully indulging sin and questioning God in sinful ways, exhort them, to not continue, to not harden their hearts. Because the warning that follows is severe.

Hebrews 10:26, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice of sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” Let this provision warn you to not continue in sin.

But rather, let this provision strengthen your faith even as you turn to the Lord in repentance, in obedience. And let this provision give you hope, give you hope that God will fulfill his promises. You know why? Because these tests will continue, these tests will keep coming in our life. There will be situations where the Lord leads us to places like Rephidim where there’s no water, but he will keep you.

His promise to us is that he will keep us. Your earthly needs, he will give you what you need. He who gave us his own son, how will he not also along with him freely give us all things? That’s the promise that he gives us. He promises to give us what we need. If there’s something that he is depriving you of now, it’s for a reason. He’s intentionally and sovereignly brought you to that place, and he knows what he’s doing. Trust him through those situations. Don’t grumble. Humbly submit to what he’s doing in your life, because as you submit — you know what the beauty is — as you submit to what he’s doing in your

life, it will help you to clearly see who he is. It will stir up your faith. It would spur you on to obedience. It’ll sanctify you. Don’t waste your trials. The covenant that he’s entered into with you, it’s sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

He will provide you for what you need. He will reiterate his promises. He will remind you with his presence. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you can say like David, “You’re with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” He will be with you, and there’s nothing that can snatch us away from his hand, either death nor life, angels or demons, any situation that can come in and snatch us away from him. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

Don't get overwhelmed with your trials. Don't let it cause you to judge God, but rather see his provision of the rock, the rock who is Christ, the rock of ages, the rock of our salvation, the Rock who is our Redeemer. And may this be our prayer.

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer, gracious Savior of my ruined life, my guilt and cross laid on your shoulders. In my place, you suffered, bled, and died. You rose, the grave and death are conquered. You broke my bonds of sin and shame. O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer, may all my days bring glory to your name, and your name alone. May God help us to do that.