“Water from the Rock” (Exodus 17:1–7)

“Water from the Rock” (Exodus 17:1–7)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, January 28, 2018

Exodus 17:1–7 (NIV)
17 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 and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

1. The Lord tests his people again (vv.1–3).

a. The Lord leads his people into the test (v. 1).
b. The Lord tests his people by leading them to a place of need and dependency (v. 1).
c. The Lord’s people failed the test, because they failed to trust their God to provide.
d. When the Lord tests his people and they respond with unbelief, they are in reality sinfully testing the Lord (v. 2).

2. The Lord provides for his people again (vv. 4–7).

a. The Lord’s provision begins with intercessory prayer (v. 4).
b. The Lord responds to the prayers of his people and supplies their need (vv. 5–6).