Do not test God (Exo 17a)

Do not test God

Exodus 17:1-7

Key verse 17:6-7

One day I was waiting long for a bus to go to school. It was when I just began to believe in God. I prayed to God that the bus might come quick so that I might not be late for school. Then, a bus came. I felt that God was living. Later I did a similar prayer several times more to see if God was real. Probably some of you did a similar thing I did. As I grew in faith, however, I realized that I did not need to do such a thing to see if God was real. In fact, it is undesirable and even dangerous to view God based on how he meets our needs because it is testing God. Today, we are going to talk about testing God. In the passage, the Israelites grumbled again about water and put him to test. Let’s see in what respect their grumbling was a test to God and how it displeased him so that we may not follow their example.

17 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?”

The Israelites left the Desert of Sin and traveled from place to place as the LORD led. Finally, they arrived at Rephidim. As soon as they got there, they found no water to drink. The place was desolate. They saw only rocks and sand around there. It was terrible to have no water in the desert. Their lives were in danger. So the people quarreled with Moses. The word quarrel means to make complaint, to conduct a case, or to strive physically or with words. So, we can imagine that they were yelling at Moses, arguing with him vehemently and accusing him. Probably, Moses said, “God has led us to this place. He must have a good reason for us. Wait and see how God provides for us as he did before.” But they did not listen to Moses. Instead, they demanded him to give them water right away.

Here Moses pointed out that they were actually quarreling with God not with him and thus putting God to the test. But they did not care about that. What was important to them was to get water. Seeing that Moses would not to give them water, they grumbled against him.

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?”

They strongly complained, “Moses, you are responsible for all this because you led us out of Egypt. We hate you. Give us water!”

Water is very critical to sustain our body. I drink water very often. I can skip a meal but I can’t stand thirst. It is understandable for the Israelites to complain in such an adverse situation. It is our nature to act like that when our basic needs are not met.

But here Moses did not see their grumbling reasonable even though he himself also suffered from thirst together with them. Let’s read verse 2 one more time.

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?”

Here Moses warned that their quarreling with him was actually putting the LORD to a test. What is to test? In what sense was their quarreling testing the LORD?

Test is to prove someone to see who the person is and how the person acts in a particular way. Verse 7 reads that they tested the LORD, saying “Is the LORD among us or not?” They saw God’s presence with them according to whether they got water or not. In other words, they thought that God should give them water to prove his presence with them. In that way, they put God to the test. In fact, they had already seen God’s presence with them so many times.

·         They saw how the LORD destroyed the Egyptians to rescue them.

·         They saw his visible guidance with the pillar of cloud and of light.

·         They saw him providing water for them in the desert whenever they needed it.

·         They saw him providing bread and meat every day.

All this was sufficient to prove that God was surely among them and leading them in the best way. But they complained as if the LORD had never provided for them, as if he had never been concerned about their difficulties and as if he had not existed. They questioned about God’s reliability simply because he was not meeting their immediate needs. Even worse, they were actually using God to get water. They did not trust in God but tested him.

Testing God is a serious sin. God can test man because he is the LORD and his test is for good purposes. But we men must not test God. Putting God to a test is challenging his sovereignty; it is distrusting in him; and it is rebellion against God. The Bible says about their testing God in many places. For example, Psalm 78:41 reads, “Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.” Psalm 78:56 also reads, “But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High.” All this shows how much the Israelites displeased and rebelled against God in the desert by testing him.

It is easy to complain and grumble when we suffer difficulties. But we should be careful not to test God. When our prayer is answered, we feel he is with us. Otherwise, we feel he is not with us. That is not to trust in God. When we view God through our doubt or demand him to do something for us as a way of determining whether or not he can be trusted, we are testing God. That was what the Pharisees did to Jesus. They asked Jesus to show them signs again and again to test him. Testing God is the most egregious sin that provokes him to anger. Israel’s adverse situation was understandable but their testing God cannot be justified. God is not the object to test but to obey and trust. (Deut 6:6-19) So, Deut 6:16 says that we must not test God no matter what situation we are in.

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

The situation was so bad that the people were even about to stone Moses. Now Moses was helpless. He did not know what to do with the people. The only thing he could do was to cry out to God. What was God’s answer?

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. 

God told Moses to take some of the elders with him so that they would be witnesses to what he was going to do for them. And God told Moses to take his staff with which he struck the Nile. The staff was the symbol of God’s presence and his power. Again, he would do something great with the staff for the people.

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.

Here we are puzzled at his word. How would he do by striking the rock? If you strike the rock with a staff, the staff will be broken or your hands can get hurt. And the rock had nothing to do with water. It is not possible to get water from the rock. But God told Moses to strike the rock. Then God said the water would come out of the rock! God knew the people were testing him, but he was patient with them and would provide water anyway. Moses obeyed God’s word in the sight of the elders of Israel.

What did this showed the Israelites about God?

·         God makes an impossible thing possible. It is impossible to get water out of rock. But nothing is impossible with God. He showed that he could give them water at any time in any place.

·         God is so gracious. God might have been disappointed with the people’s grumbling and failing him continually regardless of his provisions. But he was patient with them. He cared for them.

·         So, God wanted them to put their trust in him – his word and his guidance, even though they were troubled by water and felt they were dying of thirst. They needed to believe that God had a good reason in all this and eventually would provide for them.

When I came to USA, I did not have much. About for a half year I could not work so the balance of my bank account went down rapidly. But I still needed to spend more money as my family was settling down. The basement we lived in was comfortable but so cold and humid that my wife always suffered a skin disease on her feet. But we didn’t have enough money to move to a better place. As the head of my family, I was so much stressed out that the first six months I lost about 20 pounds. For the first several years my primary concern was how to earn money to support my family. However, in such an adverse situation God encouraged my wife and me to trust in him. We believed that it was God who brought my family here for the campus mission so he would provide for my family for sure. As we believed, he surely provided for us and we could have our own house later. Though my English was broken, God provided me with a fulltime position on campus, which was like the water coming out of the rock. I learned that I should trust in God to the end and never doubt or test him and then I would see the glory of God.

 ⁷ 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?”

This passage ends abruptly without their thanks or praise to God who supplied water for them in the batten land. Rather, it ends as a reminder of their bad example. Massah means testing and Meribah means quarreling. Intriguingly, a very similar incident occurred later in Num 20:1-13. These two incidents taught them a historic lesson that they must not test the LORD. The name of this place reflected these events and thus served as a reminder for the people. So, Psalm 95:7b-9, which was written much later, read,

Today, if only you would hear his voice, ⁸ “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, ⁹ where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.

The Israelites showed a hardness of heart as Pharaoh did not repent at all though God graciously showed him mercy many times. Although the Israelites had seen what God did for them and received God’s promises, they did not trust in God. They rather tested God’s patience and power not only one time or two or three times but many more times. Num 14:22 reads,

“…not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times.”

The consequences were so grave. They failed to enter the Promised Land. It is so sad and even dreadful that the first generation of the Israelites all died in the desert and did not see the land of Canaan that God promised and they longed for because they tested God.

This tells us that their sinful nature never changed. In Deut 31, when they were about to enter the land of promise, God said that the Israelites would rebel against him. So, Moses’ books, including this passage, revealed the failure of Israel and of the whole humankind and thus anticipated the one who would cover their sins and restore them back to God and lead them to his kingdom. So, Moses prophesized in Deut 18:15-19 that God would raise a prophet like him and he is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ultimate rock from which living water would come out to save us and will change our sinful nature. (John 413,14; 6:35; 7:37,38)

What does this event in today’s passage teach us today then? What is the egregious test we can make to God today? Let’s see first what the New Testament says about this in 1 Cor 10:1-11.

³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. ⁶ Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did…⁹ We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 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.

Here Paul said to the Corinthians that they could not avoid God’s judgment if they tested Christ by continuing to sin. If they do so continually, it is crucifying Jesus Christ again (Heb 6:6) and putting him to shame so there will be no more chance for them to enter the kingdom of God because Jesus is God’s last offer for salvation.

The book of Hebrew also says the same thing. It was written to the Jewish Christians who were in suffering and about to give up their faith in Jesus and return to the Jewish faith. The author warned them not to give up their faith in Jesus but run their race, fixing their eyes on Jesus. Otherwise, they would be following their forefathers’ bad example.

¹⁵ As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” ¹⁶ 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. (Heb 3:15-19)

As such, the Bible warns that if we do not believe in Jesus Christ or give up faith in him or indulge in sin continually we cannot enter the kingdom of God. Such things are rejection of Jesus Christ who is the ultimate and last offer God has shown to humankind. Jesus’ death and resurrection is much greater than the Red Sea event and the manna event. In fact, he is the fulfillment of all this. (See John 6) He is the final gift God has shown for us to enter his kingdom. By believing in him we shall have eternal life in the kingdom of God. But if we give up faith in him, we will have no other opportunity to enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, rejecting Jesus Christ or putting his crucifixion to shame is testing God.

So far, we have learned that testing God is a great sin and that testing Jesus’ death and resurrection is to test God. God has demonstrated his love and power for us through his son Jesus Christ. God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Why will he not give us all things we need? (Rom 8:32) What else do we need to prove God’s love for us? He is leading us to his kingdom and continues to provide for us. Why then do you doubt and complain as if you did not receive the kingdom of God and as if you always lacked something?

We easily complain when we lack something, when things do not go well as we expect, or when we have suffering. We pray for those things first rather than acknowledging his sovereignty and goodness and putting our trust in him.

We should never doubt his love even in our suffering. We should not grumble. We must not test him but trust in him because we are content in Jesus Christ. In prison, Apostle Paul said,

¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Phil 4:12-13)

His secret to be content and joyful was Jesus Christ. So he said in Phil 3:10,11, and 14,

¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead…¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Let’s praise God for what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Let’s give thanks to God and rejoice in him so that none of us here may test God. God is the one we must trust.

By David Yun