EXODUS 15:22-16 Lesson # 13
Waiting or Whining For God
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction:
Q How many of you think the Christian life is an easy thing to do? Let me see your hands?
Q Have you found it hard? What is hard?
RQ Have you ever thought that the hardness if God’s part? Let me explain….
Note: Beyond Salvation: How strange it would be if a parent brought a child home from the hospital and put it in a room, never went in there, but confidently said, “Well, the baby is born and now it is up to it to grow up on its own.”
RQ That is a foolish thought, isn’t it.
But how often many people think that just because someone makes a religious commitment, gets baptized, or makes a confession of faith, or gets saved, or born again that it is now all done.
RQ Does it not make sense that a spiritual baby needs as much attention as a physical one?
Becoming Mature Involves Free Will: When it comes to raising a child it needs to be cared for, guided, helped, provided with food and clothing and challenged to make some tough decisions before it can mature as a true adult. Also, if we want the child to grow up strong with the ability to make its own decisions, and make its way successfully as an adult, then we must allow the child freedom to make some decisions. Not all at once, of course, but gradually, as the child matures we give more and more freedom to them until they are mature.
Note: The difficulty in the “life of faith”, might be God trying to mature us. Let us see how this might work by viewing what happened to the Israelites. The Israelites did not save themselves at the crisis of the Red Sea. God did it all. Their faith was so weak that the only speech that they make in chapter 14 is one of unbelief. A few moments before their deliverance from the Egyptian army they are busily griping, not standing firm in their faith. Moses had faith, but Moses had known the Lord a bit longer and had seen Him in action and had seen God’s faithfulness. Moses had made some decisions, and he was in the process of maturing. God now tries to move Israel to the same place as the leader Moses.
Between Egypt and Promised Land is the Wilderness: In chapter 15, after the tremendous victory that they experienced the Israelites sang great songs of praises to God. They were free from the Egyptians. God was seen as all powerful and worthy of praise. They sung to Him and they had a future. They would soon enter the promised land. However, there is a journey between Egypt and the promised land and the path goes through the “Wilderness”.
This is also true spiritually. When we truly meet God, we have “to travel” in this life and it often seems that the path God chooses for us seems to be as tough as traveling through the wilderness was for Israel. Lets see how Israel did the first few weeks out of Egypt, in fact our first story takes place within three days of their Red Sea victory.
III. The Need For Water At Marah. Exodus 15:22-27.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 15:22-27.
Q What was the first problem they ran into within three days?
An = No water and then what they found at Marah was “bitter”. We do not know if the water made them sick (15:26) or what “bitter” refers to, but it is clearly undrinkable. They had a real problem.
Q How they respond in 15:24?
An = They grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Notice this is the same Moses that had risked his life to come and deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh.
>> Let me read to you Exodus 14:31.
Note: Notice that right after the event at the Sea the text says they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. Now, three days later they seemed to have forgotten. Hardly had their praises begun to die down on the sands of the desert, and they are now singing a different song (Fretheim, p. 177).
RQ Has this ever happened to you? God has done some great thing for you but the next moment, something goes wrong and then we grumble?
Note: Notice Moses’ response. He does not grumble, He prays. There is such a difference between griping and asking. There is such a difference in complaining and actually telling God you need help.
Note: The people do need help. They do need water and so Moses cries out to the Lord. It was a good thing somebody knew how to pray in that group.
Q What was the Lord’s response?
An = He gave Moses directions on how to improve the water. He seemingly showed Moses how to use nature to improve nature so that the water was drinkable. There is no punishment or hesitation on God’s part. They needed water, Moses asked, God answered.
Note: There is also something very strange that takes place. Moses gives them more! He makes a speech in verse 26, but he does not really bring up the issue of the miracle or talk about the greatness of his prayer life. Moses shows them how to be successful in the future.
RQ Have your parents or a teacher or a coach ever done the same thing.
An = It is one thing to help a child or student with a particular problem but the goal is to teach them how to go beyond that particular point. You tie their shoes for them at first but it would be better to teach them how to tie their own shoes, to be more dexterous with their hands, to have the confidence to tackle problems for themselves, etc. If they have need, you help them. But you also instruct them in ways to make good choices and to follow procedures that bless them and help them grow. You do this if you love them, if you are a good coach, a good teacher, a good parent.
Note: Notice the last phrase of 15:25. God was testing them. He was going to give them the choice to freely obey His commands and to encourage them He made a promise of being their Healer (15:26). He then leads them to plentiful water (15:27).
IV. The Need for Food At Elim. Exodus 16.
A. Israel grumbles Again: Exodus 16:1-3
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 16:1-3
Q How do they handle this problem?
An = In less than two months (16:1) they run against another difficulty, and they gripe again. Again they turn on the leadership, and what is worse they wish to go back to Egyptian slavery. They would rather be well-fed slaves than risk-taking free people.
They do something even worse. They accuse Moses and Aaron of plotting their death. The Israelites are wrong for doing this, but notice what God does.
B. Divine Grace. Exodus 16:4-5.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 16:4-5.
Q How did God respond?
An = Again He promised to bless them in a double manner. He would meet their needs by raining bread from heaven, but even more He would attempt to give them dignity by giving them the chance to freely choose to obey Him. God could have feed them, and put a mind-meld on them and turned them into robots but instead He wishes to give them the freedom to respond to His commands. The food is going to come, but they are to learn to not gather the food on the Sabbath. To learn about the Sabbath is an additional blessing that we will soon see in the weeks to come.
C. Moses and Aaron Point Out the Truth. Exodus 16:6-8
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 16:6-8.
Note: Before Moses and Aaron give them the instructions on how they are to receive the food they need Moses and Aaron want to clear the air. Notice that in verse 16:6 Moses says the coming food will prove the Lord brought you out of Egypt and the reason Moses says this is because the grumbling the Israelites have been doing was really against God Himself. That is what the questions mean in 16:7. The grumbling is not just against Moses and Aaron but really against God.
Q Can someone share the last time they griped about their circumstances? What was it about?
An = I appreciate your honesty. I have begun to see that when I constantly complain about my circumstances or gripe against the leadership that I am really telling God that He has failed.
Q Do you agree, when we criticize others are we really criticizing God?
Q Do you know folks that are always complaining and criticizing? Are they happy people?
Q Can you give an example of someone you know who does not complain?
An = I want you to know that recently I have talked with people and heard the words: “well, no use complaining, every one has something to deal with”. Often what they had to deal with was such a burden. It has been inspiring for me to hear this. I am learning much from them!
D. Learning To Deal With God’s Blessings. Exodus 16:9-30
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 16:9-18.
Note: There is much debate about this manna. Was it a natural substance that could be found in the desert from the Tamarisk trees? There have been reports for centuries that such a substance like manna does exist. However, the real issue is not whether it was partly or totally miraculous (besides the amount needed is beyond what nature could naturally supply and to do so all year long is miraculous in itself), the key is in 16:15 when Moses answers their question “What is it” with “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat”. However God supplies our needs, we need to recognize that it is from His hand.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 16:19-30.
Q God gives them two commands in regard to the manna, what are they? (See 19,25)
An = They were not to gather more than they needed and not to gather manna on the Sabbath. If they gathered more than they needed it would rot and they did not need to gather on the Sabbath because on the day before they would find more so that they need not gather any on the Sabbath.
Q Did the Israelites obey?
Q Why does God give them these commandments and restrictions?
An = He is trying to teach them to trust Him. So often in church work or in our personal lives we do not want to trust God, we want to gather so much that we do not need to trust in God anymore. How silly. The whole hope we have of the future is in God. If He is not with us than no matter how much we hoard up it will never be enough because we will be without Him. Can we pass the veil the death by what we hoard up and make it into heaven? It would not have mattered how much manna Israel had when the got to the Promised land. They needed to fight difficult battles and they needed a live and dynamic God to lead them and help them. You need something besides bread to fight battles. If they had learned to trust and obey God with the manna then it would help them with future needs that lay ahead. They needed God. They needed to wait for Him. He was the guarantee of their future.
V. Conclusion. Exodus 16:31-17:7.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 16:31-36
Q How long did the Israelites need the manna?
An = Forty years.
Note: Our chapter also ends with a startling fact. The Israelites were fed manna for forty years. God was willing to provide for them for the long term, as long as they needed it. They were to daily learn to trust and live in Him.
Note: Remember, it is a key truth to learn: praying to God about what frustrates us and what our needs are is genuine and appropriate prayer. However, griping about what we do not have is not appropriate. The Israelites never talk to God they just complain about everything.
Q Do children do well who have everything given to them? Do you know some people like that?
Q What has helped you most?
An = Often, what has helped us most is to be given responsibilities, to be encouraged to grow, and to make good decisions. So God, as a wise spiritual parent, adds some commands along with the gift of bread from heaven. It is in the wilderness, with its shortages that life in the Promised Land is being prepared for.
Note: Just as important as receiving the answers to our needs is building trust in our Lord. The Gospel of John puts it this way. Jesus had made enough bread to feed a large multitude and this had made Him quite popular. However, Jesus, like Moses did not want to just feed them He wanted the meeting of their need to lead to much more and so He says:
>>>> Read John 6:26-29.
Q What does Jesus tell them is the most important thing they need to do?
An = In verse 29 is our answer: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom he has sent.” You see when we trust in God in the midst of our difficulties and problems we get much more than the need satisfied we get a stronger relationship with God. Jesus puts it this way.
>> Read John 6:41.