No Water to Drink

3rd Sunday in Lent – A                                                                                   LSB #’s 648, 718, 761
Text – Exodus 17:1
 
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, & camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 
 
NO WATER TO DRINK
 
 
After the people of Israel left Egypt, it’s easy to think of them as just a bunch of whiners.  Throughout their time in the wilderness, they are constantly complaining & Moses is clueless what to do with them.    In the OT lesson for today, we read about the 4th major occurrence of complaining in less than three months since they left their life of slavery to the Egyptians. 
Eventually, God determines that the entire adult generation, except for Joshua & Caleb, would die before He’d bring His people into the Promised Land.   Still, before we completely write off those stubborn & obstinate people, we should consider the circumstances under which they were complaining in the text from Exodus 17. 
One hundred hours – it’s often cited as the length of time a human body can survive at “average” temperatures without access to water.  During forced marching in sustained heat, that time can be reduced to as little as seven hours.   That is what the congregation of Israel was facing as they arrived at Rephidim. 
They went there, “…according to the commandment of the Lord...”  (Exodus 17:1 ESV)   If He wanted them to live, He knew they’d need water, & lots of it.  In Exodus 12, we’re told there were 600,000 men.  Adding women & children, 2 million people is a reasonable estimate.  Along with their livestock, they’d need millions of gallons of water. 
Since there was none, a logical person would conclude that God simply brought them there to die.   And that’s not out of the realm of possibility in our lives either.   Maybe  you’ve never been certain that God was trying to kill you,  but I’m sure that all of us  have been disappointed at times  in what God has brought  or allowed  into our lives.  Relationships broken by betrayal are common in this world.  Serious illness, job losses, failed government, raging inflation, & nations going to war – bring disappointment, frustration & even anger into our lives.  How quickly people reinterpret God’s salvation as abandonment when suffering comes. 
When those circumstances come into our lives, it’s very easy to slip into wondering, “Does God really love me, or is He’s just playing games?”   As I graduated from seminary, I was assigned to a dual parish in North Dakota.  It only took from July to December to wonder if God had sent me to my own personal hell   right here on earth. 
The people whom God rescued from Egypt, had grown up under slavery in a pagan nation.  Now they’re camped in the wilderness, water has run out, & dehydration is imminent.  As thirst devolves into panic, & panic into fury, the Israelites confront Moses: “…Is the Lord among us or not?”  (Exodus 17:7 ESV)   “…Give us water to drink.”  (Exodus 17:2a ESV) 
 The difficult events of the Exodus bear witness to the characteristic nature of life in this broken world.  And our lives are broken, not just because of what other people have done to us.  Our lives are broken also because of what do to ourselves – each & every day.  It is not only the people of Israel who were stiff necked, hard hearted, & characteristically lacking in faith.  
It is not just the people of Israel whose community was threatened by their characteristic infidelity.  It is not merely the ancient Israelites who complained against God.    All of us are whiners, stubborn & obstinate people who believe we are entitled to our hearts’ every desire. 
That may hit your ears a little too severe.   If it does, remember God the Father sent God the Son to suffer & die on a cross for your sins.  That’s what it took to pay the price for all the times you & I have failed to be perfect,   for all the times we have failed to put ourselves last so that others might be first,   for all the times we have failed to be kind & generous & thankful.  Think of the number of minutes you spend each day in giving heartfelt praise to your Lord & Savior.  Do those minutes outnumber the ones where complaints flow from your lips?   Jesus died on the cross willingly because He wanted to rescue us from everything that we complain about.   He was born in human flesh so He could truly understand how broken our lives are. 
His greatest desire is that we speak to Him about our disappointments, our frustrations & our anger.  If we don’t know what to say, there are numerous Psalms written just for that purpose.  They express, with holy words, the sufferings & sorrow that we endure.   They are referred to as Psalms of lament, & a good example comes from Psalm 80:4-6 NIV:
“How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?  You have fed them with the bread of tears; You have made them drink tears by the bowlful.  You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors, & our enemies mock us.” 
That Psalm ends with the words: “Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.”  (80:19)    Psalms of lament not only give us words to express our despair, they give permission to take such complaining prayers on our lips to God.  They go so far as to authorize such complaining prayers as a proper dimension of faith.  
And how does Yahweh respond to the grumbling of His people?  He gives them water even before the people repent.  The heavenly Father loves perfectly even when we do not.   This text in Exodus bears witness to the characteristic nature of relationship with God.  He creates the world, it rebels against Him, & He seeks to restore the world to the glory in which He created it. 
This event bears witness to the faithfulness & graciousness of God, in spite of, & because of, our sin.  The entire Book of Exodus is about the faithfulness of Yahweh.  Chapter 2 reports that God heard the people’s groaning in Egypt & remembered the covenant with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.  So He rescued them.   Near the end of Exodus, Yahweh proclaims: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful & gracious, slow to anger, & abounding in steadfast love & faithfulness.”  (34:6 ESV)   Some are afraid to say that God at times brings into our lives things we view as harmful.  God is not the cause of evil, but He certainly does not avoid using it for His purposes. 
He sent the Devil to tempt Job.  In the Gospel reading Jesus had no water to drink.  God brought the people into the wilderness where there was no water to drink.  Through the narrative, we understand the OT lesson as another episode in the unfolding drama of Yahweh’s relationship with His people.  The question to the people of Israel & to us:
“How will we respond when the Lord leads us where He will?”   Even if the water is bitter, the food scarce, if it seems there’s no water or food at all, or it seems that the Lord is not with us at all, will we continue to believe His word that He is our God & we are His people?  God is good, & God is love, but in the brokenness of our sins, it’s easy to doubt that. 
If our Lord simply gave us good things in this life, we would never appreciate them.  This text from Exodus helps us to confront our deepest fears, “…Is the Lord among us or not?”  (Exodus 17:7 ESV)  Is He real, & is He actually working in our lives?  Through our desert times we ask again & again because we need to know again & again.  Is God among us now? 
It’s the only question that matters.  To ask it is to register our need, our yearning, & our hope before the Lord almighty.  To ask it is to journey into radical freedom, knowing that the God of both wilderness & water has compassion enough for our questions & our fears.  Out of Christ’s empty tomb, eternal life flows to you as a living water of forgiveness & healing.  Amen.
 
 
If the way be drear, if the foe be near, let not faithless fears overtake us;   let not faith & hope forsake us; for through many a woe to our home we go. When we seek relief from a long-felt grief, when temptations come alluring, make us patient & enduring.   Show us that bright shore where we weep no more.        Jesus, lead Thou on till our rest is won.  Heavenly leader, still direct us, still support, console, protect us, till we safely stand in our fatherland.  Amen.  LSB 718:2-4.