When God Feels Absent

Transcript

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[0:00] Clark. Well, our sermon text is from Exodus 17, verses 1 through 7. And I'm going to give just a quick review of Exodus so far. Also, the men's Bible study is reading through Exodus right now, and it's been really great. It's been really great. We just kind of wrapped up all the plagues, and it was pretty amazing. This Friday, we're going to talk about the Passover. Passover. So it's really interesting. But here's a review of Exodus up to chapter 17 so far. So it starts off that a new king in Egypt arose who did not know the Lord. Remember, Joseph was the second-hand man to the pharaoh of Egypt. But in time, new leadership came in Egypt, and they did not have the same regard for the descendants of Joseph and his family and descendants of Jacob, Israel. The structure of the society in Egypt, this is interesting. It falls in the same way that it falls in countries all around the world, that people divide along ethnic lines, and eventually the weaker people, in this case the Hebrews, were enslaved by the dominant people. Does that sound like it's happened elsewhere? Of course it has, yes. So this is like history. It's the human history writ large, right? And they suffer under the whip of the slave masters. And the question that comes up is, does God know? Does God care?

[1:23] And this is what it says in Exodus 3. Verses 7 and 8. God says, I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings. That's what he says. I know their sufferings. And I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land. So that's Exodus 3. So God lays out what's going to happen in the rest of Exodus. He says, I'm going to come and rescue my people. I'm going to be among them. I've heard their cry. I've seen their suffering. So God sees and he hears and he's present in their midst already, it seems. The question of God's presence is already settled by God. He's been with them all this time, but he hears them now. So he's going to reveal himself in these progressively more powerful ways. And that's another theme in Exodus is that God keeps kind of turning up the heat. So he appears to Moses in a burning bush, which is very fascinating. And you can go to Mount Sinai now and there's a, Catherine's Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery there at the foot of Mount Sinai. And the burning bush is in their courtyard. That's what they say. They'll tell you that, that this is the burning bush. It's not on fire now, but it's here it is. It's the same one.

[2:38] And you know, when you're sort of an archeological tourist, you kind of have to, you know, say, well, you know, this could be true. Like there's like a truth meter or a fact meter and just like, well, I'm glad you think that, but maybe, could be, could be, you can go to Jericho and they're like, that's the sycamore tree. That Zacchaeus climbed up and you're like, really? 2000 years old tree. That's pretty good. Looks kind of small for that, you know, should be a lot bigger anyways, but that's what happens in these holy sites is people like that's it. But anyways, so Moses sees and experiences God in the burning bush. God is present there. He speaks right. And then what happens next? We know the story. This is kind of the children's Bible, right? Plague after plague, after plague, 10 plagues in all, but each one, actually they kind of increase in intensity. And so, you know, the story is coming alive in the text itself. Right. Right Right was a sign from God. And so God is showing even more and more what he's going to do. And the final plague is really kind of, and we'll talk about this a little bit later, the final plague is a symbol of how he will even more be with his people in the future. So we'll

[4:04] get to that, hold on to that thought. So after they're let go, God's not done yet, right? This is Exodus. After they're let go from Egypt, God is visible to them. There's a pillar of cloud by day. Can you imagine walking around and there's this thing that just leads you and you follow it? It's not like a regular cloud that blows around. And then at night, it's a pillar of fire. It's like free lighting. So how could you look at that and go, where's God? Well, it's right there, right? And then they're brought to the edge of the Red Sea. God parts the Red Sea and they walk through and then the sea . . . collapses around Pharaoh's army that pursues them into that. So, you know, you'd think at this point that they have, the people of Israel, have really seen a lot of God's hand, right? Do you think that they've seen a lot of power on display? And that's kind of, that sets up our reading for today. But you could say that the entire theme of Exodus centers on God's saving presence, his presence, his actual presence with people, that he hears and he sees and he comes into the midst of his people and he uses his power in increasingly visible ways to save them from slavery. That's really the theme of Exodus. I'll just say it again. He hears, he sees, he comes into the midst of his people

[5:19] and he uses his power in increasingly visible ways to save them from slavery. That's the thematic kind of framework of Exodus. So today's passage is a real head-scratcher because, as we'll see, once they're out of Egypt and past the Red Sea, the people begin to doubt that God is, really, with them. They doubt that he is present. And how could they do that, right? Well, we'll understand why soon. Their hunger and their thirst cause them to forget what God has done for them and to forget that God is with them. So with that, let's go to our readings, Exodus 17, 1 through 7.

[5:58] Verse 1, from the wilderness of sin, the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water, for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink.

[6:15] 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 complained against Moses and said, why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?

[6:39] So Moses cried out to the Lord, what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me. The Lord said to Moses, go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock and water will come out of it. So that the people may drink. Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not? Let's take a moment to pray.

[7:29] Father, we pray that this word will sink into our hearts. We pray that you would add a blessing to this reading. We pray that you would add a blessing to this reading. of this word. In Jesus name. Amen.

[7:44] Well, I'd like you to look at the text and I think maybe we'll ask Nathan to bring up the very first slide and go through them all again as we kind of get through. But I want you to notice a few things, right? The people are hungry and thirsty, right? They complain to Moses and other parts of Exodus. It talks about them really missing the good old days, the good old days in Egypt. Even though they were slaves, at least they could eat. So they were well, at least they were well-off. They were well taken care of in terms of their bellies. But they were slaves and they were dying under the whip. And in a way, I would say this is somewhat understandable. If you're hungry and you're thirsty, that's kind of all you can see. We'll talk about that in a second. The other thing we find is that Moses is afraid for his own life. The people are mad. Like somehow, Moses, like you're in a room and you sense the crowd changes. Moses has that sense. He's like, these people are upset.

[8:39] They're afraid for my own safety. So he appeals to God and God has an answer, right? And you'll find in other parts of Exodus that when the people complain and Moses also complains, then God really gets angry. And he says some really mean, quote unquote, like mean, can God be mean? He says some very righteous, righteously angry things like, I'm going to destroy all these people and start over with you, Moses. And Moses says, no, no, no, don't do that. And Moses is able to talk God out of that. But in this story, there's no hint of God's anger at all.

[9:16] Only that God wants to bless his people with water. But yet the question of their testing and quarreling and complaining comes up over and over again from this very passage in scripture. So God gets angry sometimes when they complain. Other times he does what needs to be done to save their lives. And this is God. God can do what he wants. He can respond. He can respond how he wants. That's the sovereignty of God. He doesn't do what we tell him. God does what God decides to do. And we receive it, right?

[9:50] So God speaks. And the part we want to look at is in verse six. And maybe you can go to that. Probably be the last slide there. God instructs Moses to take some leaders along to the rock of Horeb. And that most scholars think that's the same place as Mount Sinai. So they think that they're actually very close to the mountain where the covenant of the Lord is. And they're just, they're near, they're near it. So Moses, so it's not just from the mountain that the covenant comes, but from the mountain that life-giving water comes. And that's something that you can kind of go, oh, wow, you know. Is the covenant of law a life-giving covenant? Well, yes, in a way it is. You can kind of put those thoughts together if you want.

[10:28] So what does God say though? He says, when you get there, what? I will be there. I will be there. God says, I will be present. I'm going to actually be there. And I kind of wonder what that looked like. You know what I mean? Was it the pillar of cloud? Was God there in that? Was God there in human form? Was this an incarnational moment where God is actually meeting the needs of his people by coming in the flesh? There's other parts of Genesis where God does come in the flesh and has conversations with Abraham, with Sarah, with other people. God comes in the flesh. And rest in peace. And he wrestles with Jacob. Very interesting. So was God there in physical form? But he was there. He says, I will be there. And then Moses strikes the stone with water. And the water comes out. And the crisis is averted. So you think, oh, well, we have a nice sort of bow, tie a bow on this story. But this episode lingers. The rest of it, exactly right there, verse 7.

[11:32] Moses names the place Massah and Meribah because of the testing and the quarreling. And both of those names are similar to the words in Hebrew for quarreling and for testing God. So those place names are interesting. But to name a place after a bad episode is kind of interesting. So I could imagine my family, when I was a kid, sometimes we fought in the car. And your dad's kind of like, if I have to turn around one more time, so you could be like, that's the gas station called if I have to turn around one more time. That's the place where somebody threw up. That's the name after when my brother threw up in the car, you know. So they named this place after a negative moment.

[12:16] And the Bible, four or five other places after this, refers to Massah and Meribah as a place of failure for God's people. Even though it's a place of success for God, it's a place where God's provision comes out.

[12:32] And the event is cast as a test for God. We're going to talk about that. A test for God, right? And the final part of verse 7 touches on the theme of all of Exodus, right? That people are wondering if the Lord is among them, is the Lord among us or not. And it's like a kind of a silly question, but it also makes sense. It's a silly question because of course God is with you. Haven't you been paying attention to all the rest of Exodus? Hasn't God shown up with a mighty hand? But yet they're hungry and they're thirsty.

[13:05] So let's work with that. As we notice, all of Exodus is about God's presence. He is among them. He shows up in mighty ways. There's a pillar of cloud and fire. His spirit rests on some of them. The spirit shows up. So God appears in very incarnational ways, in very sort of holy ways, right? So he is absolutely among them. But yet they ask the question. And they quarrel and test God. And I think the question in my mind that comes to this is how could they forget so quickly?

[13:37] How could they forget? You had just seen all this stuff, you know? How could you forget? And I think it's fair to say if I think that I'm dying of hunger and thirst, and I haven't known what it's like to be really hungry and really thirsty in my life up until now, that all I can see in that moment is that I don't have what I need to survive. And so I think memory can fall away if you're faced with your inevitable existential crisis, right? If I don't think I'm going to live till tomorrow, I'm going to forget everything except for how am I going to get some food or water right now to stay alive. And I'm going to get some food and water for my children. And so even the most impressive display of power will fade into memory because I'm in an existential challenge, a challenge about whether I will continue to exist and to live. And this is the human condition. Right? We easily forget what God has done. We forget that there are promises that we will be taken care of, and we forget that God is actually among us. Is the Lord among us or not? We can forget that the answer to that is always yes, right?

[14:44] But the rest of Scripture is not so understanding. In several other places, right, like I said, the event is referred to always negatively. The people were faithless and quarrelsome, and they tested God. Now, to talk about testing. In Matthew chapter 16, there's a demand for a sign. And this is, I'll just read a brief passage from Matthew 16. And we see what, how God feels about this. The Pharisees and Sadducees came and to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. And he answered them, when it is evening, you say it will be fair or rather for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation tests God and asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

[15:39] That's somebody who went into the deep for three days and came out again. Interesting, right? Then he left them and went away. So God is, you know, also in Jesus, Jesus is in the wilderness and the devil comes to try to tempt him. And one thing Jesus says is, You shall not put God to the test. This idea of testing God is always considered a negative thing. If the question is, this is a test, I'm going to get God to do something for me. There's other tests that are okay. And we'll get into that. So, but you say, how is God tested? Right? How, how are people testing God like this? Because if I say you have to produce this now to God, if you have to, if you have to produce this now. Then you're testing God. That's different than asking for it, right? Demanding it is a test. I have to have this now or I'm not going to make it. But asking it for that's different. That's being open to what to God's sovereignty. And does God have to answer right away? You often get this. When people talk about prayer, some people say, oh, you should get an answer right away. Well, no, you might have to wait a while, right? So a servant does what you say. A servant is supposed to answer right away, but not with God. God has to answer.

[16:56] God has his own sovereignty. God has his own timetable. Is God supposed to explain things to us that we may not even be able to understand if he were even to explain them to us? Are we testing God in all these ways? And so I think that when we test God this way, it's kind of like the librarians bell. Can you visualize a librarians bell?

[17:18] Looks like this. You know this thing? I got this in my kids. I knew my kids were going to go crazy for it. And so I said, you can. You can ring it three times and then never again because we don't want it in the house. You know, it's just super annoying.

[17:31] But I'm not going to put it on the desk here because it's. But you know what I do know is that everybody loves this thing. So I want you to take your your bulletin. Go ahead. Grab your bulletin and roll it up. I'm not going to pass it around because with COVID you don't want to touch it, but I'm going to hold it out to you. And anyone who wants to can give it a good tap because you know you want to do it. And we want to hear this bell. This is what you do when you're testing God. You're like, God, come to the desk, please. Do your thing. We need some service here. All right. I know you want to do it. You can give it a good tap if you want.

[18:05] That's more insistent. There you are. A little bit of urgency. Yeah, exactly. Good. There you go. One time. I don't know. I'm just going to have to catch it. There you go. You can do more than that. Come on. All right. Do we have some more winners? Sure. Yes. All right.

[18:44] Right here. Not for the Lee family. All right. All right. A lot of people hold on to that. Go on, go on. I feel like I can tell a lot about a person by how emphatically they... I'm not sure what I can tell. I just feel like I could possibly tell something about your personality.

[19:33] I don't know. So that's what this is. The people out there are like, bing. Super annoying. You're going to put God to the test? You're going to tell him to come when you say come? You're going to tell him to do what you say? And that's getting it backwards, isn't it? That's confusing the creator and the creature. That's confusing. That's confusing. That's the sin of it. Okay.

[19:56] But lest you think that all testing is bad, there are other places where God is tested. One place, not tested, but an answer is asked of God. And it's expected somewhat on a short notice. I'm a little out of breath from running around. Okay. So one of them is Gideon's fleece. Remember that? Right? Does that seem like this? It's not. We'll see why. Also, there was something called the Gideon's fleece. It's called the Urim and the Thummim, which was probably like a set of lots or dice that David and his men used to get guidance from God on what they should do when they were sort of marauding around the land. And they would roll them or fiddle with them or just like drawing lots.

[20:42] Even the people on Jonah's boat drew lots. And God actually answered. They figured out who needed to be thrown overboard. Right? Okay. This is different, though, because it's starting with the premise that God has a task for me. Gideon is supposed to do something for God. He just doesn't know which of the things he needs to do. But his heart is there. He's not saying God produced this answer for me so that I can have the answer because I need the answer because I'm telling you what to do. But it's God give me the answer so I know what the right thing to do is. That's different. That's different than testing God. That's seeking God's guidance. Right? And it's not like snapping my fingers. Right? Right? I need to ask God to do my bidding. And if you read about the Urim and the Thummim, it's very interesting. They use it and they use it and they use it. And eventually it stops working. It doesn't do anything for them anymore. Because God says, God kind of takes like, this is the phone. He's kind of like, click. We're done. Like, you've overused this thing. You need to kind of figure the rest out yourself. So even that seeking guidance from God with some sort of lot or dice, God stopped answering that way too after a while.

[21:52] Because maybe it was starting to turn. And so, you know, we're so dependent on you to make a decision. And God's like, no, no, you can. You've got enough. You've got enough. So. So some tests are okay. But this kind of testing of God is an affront. It's an affront to God's sovereign sovereignty. Right? So let's go on. Talk about the very final plague in Egypt. It was the most powerful one. Remember, it killed all these animals and humans. Right? And finally, it finally got Pharaoh to let the people go. But it was also a sign of things to come. I talked about this earlier. Not in this case. It wasn't the angel that was God, but in the lamb that the people sacrificed and the blood they put on their doorpost. So even this final plague was a future promise of God's presence. And I think that's how we want to really wrap it up together today, because we have to ask ourselves, are we like those people who quarrel and test God and have a bell? It's still under here somewhere. I'm going to hit it one more time. No. It's back here. Okay. So in the lamb, we see the future coming of Jesus. And that's God appearing in the midst of people in the flesh to rescue his people from bondage to send death and the devil. So God's presence is even in this final plague.

[23:10] Like it's not just present for his people there, but it's pointing way forward thousands of years to the coming of Jesus. So this story is it really is our story, too. And we have seen what Jesus can do. We have the experience of our salvation. I hope you have the experience of your salvation. But the cares of this world can make us forget.

[23:30] It can make us go, is the Lord among us or not? I don't remember. I don't remember that moment when Jesus was so real to me. I don't remember that moment when God intervened in my life so powerfully. And that's because we're hungry and we're thirsty, right? May not, maybe not physically, but the cares of this world can drive away the memories. The memories of the presence of God in our lives. But there's an antidote to that. And the antidote to forgetting is remembering. You remember what God has done. One of the pastors that was one of my mentors, I said, you know, pastor, sometimes I feel like I don't believe as much anymore. I feel like it's all so distant, you know. And I don't know if I should become a pastor myself because maybe I'm not going to really be helping anybody because I'm not sure this is all true. Can you believe that I said that? Maybe you've said it yourself. And he said, remember when God seemed real to you.

[24:29] Remember that moment and relive it. Because God doesn't forget you and God's never been less real and God has always been present for you. You're the one that has sort of drifted away and kind of gotten lost. And he's calling you back to himself. He wants to be present. You know, he says, go to the rock. I will be there waiting for you, right?

[24:50] So we ask these questions. But God comes through. God answers the question. God is present and he stays present. And God forgives. Even though later writers point to this as one of the low points of the Exodus, God doesn't give up on his people. He still does redeem them into the new land. It takes time. It's not a sort of one-stop process. It took time to get there. And that's part of the story, too. Nothing happened overnight. It took a few generations for them actually to take the land.

[25:22] Because of their lack of faith, because of their lack of memory, really, of God's presence, it took them longer. Some of them weren't allowed to see it. Moses wasn't allowed to see it. He died on a hill overlooking it, but he couldn't reach it. It's really poignant and sad, but also it's so true to life. You lost something. You lose something when you forget, not just the memory, but the closeness with God.

[25:50] So how can we sense that God is present? And I think God is present here right now. For one thing, he is among us. He's present in the meal you just ate. I really believe that. He's there wherever two or more are gathered. You know that verse. He's there. He came in the flesh to overcome the flesh. He has left his spirit to dwell in you. God is present in the spirit as well. Do you need more advanced examples? We can't take the time to do it. He's among us even when we don't feel like he is among us. This is God's nature. He's coming. He's constant. We're the ones that kind of forget. So discipleship may mean not trusting all your senses so much. Discipleship may mean I feel like God is distant, but I know that he's not. That's Christian maturity, and that's something we can all aspire to. God may feel distant. The spirit may be dry. And that's something to pay attention to. If that's happening, that's something to pay attention to. You don't just set it aside. It's like you don't throw away a cloak that you should have mended. You mend that cloak. You keep it.

[26:59] But it doesn't mean it's true that God is distant. It doesn't mean it's true that God isn't present. It's true. He's with us. He really is. And I feel this way from time to time. Like I said, this hasn't stopped. Like the thing that that mentor said to me hasn't changed my life. I mean, it changed my life, but it hasn't. It doesn't mean that I don't feel that way from time to time again. But I remember. I remember what he said, and then I remember what I need to remember.

[27:26] So here's what God says. He says, go to the rock. Go to the rock, and I will be there to deliver you. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for this word. Thank you that you're present with us. Father, we ask the question, is the Lord among us or not? We ask that in so many ways. Father, give us the memory of those times that you were really with us, that we could sense. And Father, thank you that you are among us. Amen.