All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?
Exodus 17:1-3
Summary
Israel's expression of unbelief wasn't just subtle; it was insidious. Their accusations reached from the nearness of God to His personality. They began to believe God delivered them from the hand of slavery to kill them; He delivered them only to torture them in turn.
In our own lives, we can adopt the same model of thinking. We can let a circumstance God has allowed us to endure to deceive us into thinking the worst about God.
The deception began in the garden. In Genesis 3, the serpent deceived Eve, leading her to believe God was holding back goodness from her despite His restriction being her protection.
We see this again in Matthew 4 when Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days and nights in the wilderness. The devil tried with Jesus what he succeeded at with Eve; he wanted Jesus to distrust God's care of Him.
And again, we see the disciples fall into the same trap in Mark 4. Battered by winds and waves, they awoke a sleeping Jesus and berated Him, asking if even He cared for them.
The situations vary, but the lie remains: God does not care for you. If Satan can convince us that God is contrary to His perfect character, then what else will we believe is true?
In reality, the opposite is true. Interwoven into the Gospel story is an abundance of care. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
God sent His son to earth because He cared. He cares for us in His infinite goodness and mercy, but He didn't just come to earth to care for our souls. Jesus cares for our daily worries. Our overwhelming anxiety. The fear that keeps us up at night. He cares for our families, the school we choose, the friends we have, and the place we work.
1 Peter 5:7 says, "casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
He cares about your cares.
Through discouragement, satan will tempt us to doubt and believe that the God who died for us doesn't care about us. That is not the truth. If God is with you, so is His power. He loves us with everlasting love. He cares for our cares, and He is compassionate and merciful towards us all of our days.
What's Next?
If you are in a place to do so, say it out loud: God is with me. If you're not, write it down in all capital letters on the closest piece of paper you can find: God is with me.
How does that promise change your posture to what you face today?
Scripture References
7.So, as the Holy Spirit says:“Today, if you hear his voice,8.do not harden your heartsas you did in the rebellion,during the time of testing in the wilderness,9.where your ancestors tested and tried me,though for forty years they saw what I did.10.That is why I was angry with that generation;I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,and they have not known my ways.’11.So I declared on oath in my anger,‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”3:11 Psalm 95:7-1112.See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13.But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14.We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
7.for he is our Godand we are the people of his pasture,the flock under his care.Today, if only you would hear his voice,8.“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,95:8 Meribah means quarreling.as you did that day at Massah95:8 Massah means testing. in the wilderness,
1.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 Massah17:7 Massah means testing. and Meribah17:7 Meribah means quarreling. because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
13.Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,14.but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
19.Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20.and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
11.These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
13.But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14.We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15.As has just been said:“Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your heartsas you did in the rebellion.”3:15 Psalm 95:7,816.Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17.And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18.And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19.So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
16.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
7.Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1.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?”
About the Contributor
Jackie Hill Perry is an author, bible teacher, poet, and hip-hop artist. Since becoming a Christian, she has been compelled to use her speaking and teaching gifts to share the light of the gospel of God as authentically as she can. She is the author of Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been and Holier Than Thou. At home, she is a wife to Preston and Mommy to Eden, Autumn, Sage, and August. View more from the Contributor.
