Exodus 17:1-7 says…
The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out from the Sin desert to continue their journey, as the Lord commanded. They set up their camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people argued with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord?” But the people were very thirsty for water there, and they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of Israel’s elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd’s rod that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” Moses did so while Israel’s elders watched. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord, asking, “Is the Lord really with us or not?”
Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the season of Lent— forty days (plus Sundays) of preparation before Easter. At Lent we remember Jesus’s 40 day fast in the wilderness. During this season, we fast and add things to our lives as a part of our own wilderness experience. We know and the Bible reinforces through many stories that the wilderness is a space of depravity where people’s most basic needs are lacking. So when we make our Lenten fasts from meat, chocolate, or social media we are experiencing only a small fraction of what true wilderness is really about. Think back to the story in Exodus of Moses and the Israelites, their wilderness depravation was far more serious than missing chocolate or social media. They were deprived of one of the most essential sources to sustain life. They were deprived of water.
The book of Exodus tells us “there was no water for the people to drink.” So when the people begin to complain, can we really blame them? It’s an entirely reasonable complaint that they make to Moses. They need water to survive. They cry, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst. Give us water to drink.” The whole situation seems beyond our imagination of depravation. And Moses response is startling as well. He turns to God and says, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.”
The Israelites’ experience of wilderness even led them to ask, “Is the Lord really with us?” I think we could all agree that the Israelites’ response is a typical human reaction when faced with the experience of extreme need. And what happens in our story today? The Lord tells Moses “take your rod, Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” God graciously provides the water the Israelites need to satisfy their most basic needs. God just seems to keep showing up in ways for the Israelites often in surprising ways and dare we forget, like the Israelites appear to, that this is not the first time God has shown up to provide for their needs. Just in the chapter before in Exodus 16 when God miraculously provides food in the wilderness in the form of a jar of manna. They also seem to forget God’s powerful intervention for them at the sea, saving the people from the charging Egyptian army in Exodus 14 and 15. God just keeps showing up.
What I find interesting in this passage is an important detail that can be easily missed. At the beginning of verse 6, Exodus records God’s promise, “I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb.” Did you catch that? Do you see? God is literally standing there when Moses strikes the rock to provide the life giving water for the Israelites. Even though the Israelites were in the wilderness going through various struggles, even though there were times of doubt, times they weren’t sure of God, times of worry and fear, despite all of the difficulties of the wilderness, God was present again and again. God is literally present for the Israelites. God is also present for us today.
In our lives, we will journey through the wilderness. We will be confronted by times of great want, times of depravation, times when we have great fears and great doubts, but despite all of these things God is present with us. God is there, often in surprising ways, providing life giving water for all of us.