Exodus 17:1-7: When We Don't Get What We Want or Need

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. 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?”

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?”

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

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. 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. 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?”  - Exodus 17:1-7

 Were the people complaining for nothing? This passage says that they "were thirsty for water" and worried that Moses would "make us and our children and livestock die of thirst." Is this just short memory on their part? Had they forgotten how God had rescued them from Egypt? No. But they were not sure about the character of this God and were probably worried about Moses connection with this God. Was it sure? Was the signal getting through clearly from heaven to earth? Or was this episode of dying of thirst due to static in the connection?

This happens with us, too. When there is a prolonged period of need and no clear answer in sight, we wonder if there is a problem with the connection. Perhaps we heard God wrong. Perhaps we forgot to charge the battery. Did we miss the critical phone call from heaven or did God forget to call or did God speak unintelligibly? 

Moses is really complaining that he is getting blamed for something that is really God's fault. But unlike God, he could die from the rocks the people would pick up. So the people need to trust that God would provide and Moses needed to trust that God would provide. So Tim needs to trust that God will provide.