Finding God in Unexpected Places
Exodus 17:1-7
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
January 16, 2022
Exodus 17:1-7
“The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Where do we find evidence of God when we are in the wilderness?
We find evidence of God, 1) in His provisions for us; 2) in the coincidences of life; and 3) in the faces of people who are experiencing need.
The wilderness experience is us when we go through a period of diagnosis and recovery, when life appears to have no balance, it is an uncomfortable place and it is a time when we ask soul-searching questions.
The people of God were literally in the wilderness. You’ve got to have some sympathy for this people. No food, no water, no place to call home. Chapped lips, thirsty for water, stomach growling, no food to eat.
Obviously, they complain to Moses, Moses brings the request before God. God provides bread for the people and then asks Moses to strike a rock and water miraculously flows from the rock so that people’s thirst can be satisfied.
There is a cycle: need, complain, take it to the Lord and God in His grace provides.
Our text includes a key question that people ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
You would think they would already have the answer to this question.
-These people have witnessed God’s deliverance from the 10 plagues that befell upon the pharaoh and the Egyptians so they would let God’s people go
-They experienced God’s help as they were chased by the Egyptian army and the sea opened for them to walk across the sea and then the sea closed when the enemy were on the ground of the dry sea.
- Yes, they were hungry, but God provided sustenance in mana they received every day.
- God provided quail for dinner.
So the people quarreled: Is the Lord among us?
My friends there are few here who have not asked this question. There is not a suffering family or a troubled nation that has not asked this question, “Is the Lord among us?”
The shorthand of this question is “Does God care?”
- It is the same question that the disciples asked Jesus when the storm came upon them while they were on the boat. “Do you not care that we perish?”
- It is the same question the psalmist asked when he was surrounded by his enemies and exclaimed, “My God why have you forsaken me? My enemies are like dogs; like lions they are pursuing me.”
- It is the questions that Christ asked on that Friday afternoon, “Why have you forsaken me?
How do I know that God cares?
Annie Dillard is the author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
- Eugene Peterson says Annie Dillard is to creation what John Calvin is to Scripture, extremely detailed, observing with a keen eye.
- In her book, Annie invests days, weeks and months observing God’s creation, in particular the muskrats.
- Her approach is to stalk the little creatures, sneaking quietly to observe what they are doing, checking every move they make.
- In a way we stalk God as well by going to church, observing his creation, through prayer, God will you reveal yourself to us?
Ps. 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
God is present, but I am not always aware of God’s presence in time of trial and difficulty, often because I am complaining, I am preoccupied. So we ask the storm questions, “Do you not care that we perish?” or the cross question, “My God, whey have you forsaken me?”
And we’re not less of a Christian when we ask these questions.
Additionally, finding the answer require where to look.
I. Look for God’s provisions for a need.
Signals that God is present.
Every fall the Jewish celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles. For eight days they celebrate God’s provision of light, water and mana.
- What are the fingerprints of God upon our lives?
- Even in the midst of need we can utter a word of thanksgiving for something that God is doing in our lives.
Consider the words of the hymn “Great is thy Faithfulness”:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with 10, 000 beside
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
II. Pay attending to the God winks.
Consider the “coincidences of life,” which seem to multiply in the presence of prayer.
The great golfer Jack Nicholson: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.”
I remember going through a rough time in my life. My dad passed away, I lost a job and things were just not working for me. Then the phone rang. “Is this Juvenal?” I said, “Yes.” It was an old friend, Dr. Joe Amerine. He said he wanted to drink a cup of coffee with me. We met at Dena’s Café and he said, “What you make of your thoughts, you will make of your life: If you think you are defeated, you are; if you think you are on the upswing, you are.”
He continued, “When you suffer a blow in your life, you can go to one of four lands: The broken (depression), the barren (isolation), the bitter (anger) or the better (hopeful) land.”
What a coincidence: when I least expected a visit, a word of encouragement, this became present in my life.
Squire Rushell wrote When God winks: The power of coincidences that Guide your life
Like grandma at dinner table or uncle who winks at you, “I know where you are in life and you got this, in fact, I’ve got your back.”
The hymnologist was right, “God’s eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.”
III. Notice people with needs
Being available to the needs of those around us.
In Matthew 25 we read about the judgment of the nations. God says to those on the right, “Enter into the kingdom, for you fed me, clothed me, visited me when I was sick and prison.” People asked, “When did we do this?” God responds, “Because you have done this to the least, you have done it unto me.”
We experience God in the presence of those in need and our hands become the hands of Christ.
The Benedictine Abbots have a value: everyone who approach is Christ.
People knock on their door and it is a stranger and the monks says, “Oh it’s you again.” God shows up again.
Where do we find evidence of God? In his provisions, coincidences and when people show up.
- Observe what God is doing.
- Sit in silence
- Read scriptures
- Practice daily prayer,
- Create a gratitude list
- Christ comes to us in form of others
God may not take us out of the wilderness, but he helps answer the question, Does God care?
Psalmist: Though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.
- Learn to say as the apostle Paul: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
- Consider what resources are available.
The answer is in the Cross of Christ- clearly God enters our experience, suffers with us, bears our pain.
Read with me Romans 8:31-39.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[a]
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Is the Lord among us?
Yes, look at his provisions, look at his winks,
Look how he shows up in the faces of those who need a word or helping hand from us.
- Who shows up in life?