(Exodus 16-17 Moses) Disillusionment breeds discouragement which blinds the eye of faith which leads to irrational actions that rob us of God's best for our lives.

Eugene P. Harder - January 20, 2002

Can you see everyone that lives in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley of British Columbia Canada heading east on the 401 freeway on foot? That's a visual image of the Exodus. Add to that picture camels, donkeys, cattle, sheep and oxen along side the people. What do two million people do about sanitation?

So many people are climbing Mount Everest that garbage and human excrement is a major problem. Imagine the trail behind this immense horde of ex-slaves being guided by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night.

The euphoria of deliverance is over and the hard reality of the wilderness is setting in. They had to learn how to live when the bubble burst. Most of us know what it is like to have the bubble burst.

A friend called, "Eugene, please pray for us. Early tomorrow morning we have to move our daughter to a safe house. Her husband has been beating her and threatened to kill all of us if we get involved. Once again things seemed to be improving, then the bubble bursts. The purpose of this message is to give you some insights on how to cope when the bubble bursts in your life.

Everything was going great for the Children of Israel. They experienced an overwhelming miraculous delivery from Egypt. Pharaoh's's mighty military machine was rusting on the bottom of the Red Sea. For two months life had been a holiday until people began to ask, "Where's the beef? For two million people, the U.I and the welfare all went dry at the same time, their bubble burst?

When the foods gone and your children are crying and hungry who cares that God made a way through the Red Sea 75 days ago? God! we need a miracle today. When the bubble bursts we need to hear from God today.

I've heard people say, "Before I started trusting Jesus, I had lots of money left after paying the rent and grocery bill. Now that I'm a Christian things have changed, I've lost my job, the U.I. has gone dry and I'm trying to survive on welfare and trips to the food bank. I'm confused. I thought Jesus made things better.

These people are asking, "Where is God when I need Him most?" Maybe becoming a Christian wasn't the smartest thing to do? Do you understand what I mean when I say, "When the bubble bursts we need to hear from God"

Let's read about it Exodus 16:1-3 NIV.
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

Have you ever experienced the physical sensation of starvation? I'm not talking about fasting. I'm talking about having nothing to eat. Imagine that all this happened because an old man told you that God was going to lead you out of slavery to a land flowing with milk and honey.

When you a realistic look at the situation, you don't need a Ph.D in agriculture to know this type of land will not fill two million empty stomachs. Many times when the bubble bursts we lament, "Would to God we had the good old days"

I've noticed that when the bubble bursts we usually find ourselves in a state of confusion, we're perplexed and bewildered. Deep down in our hearts we know God's way is the best way. Something deep within tells us that the place where we are is God's appointed place for us for reasons we don't understand.

Life is a paradox. If God's way is the best way and if I'm walking in God's way, then why am I experiencing all this pain? God never promised us a velvet covered freeway. There is a sense in which all humanity walks the same road.
Believers and unbelievers share the same common tragedies. On September 11th when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York imploded believers and unbelievers were buried together under the rubble.

So what difference does believing make? For the believers, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, a transcending purpose for walking the road. Jesus provides believers with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to guide, direct, comfort and encourage along the way. When the bubble bursts the ministry of the Holy Spirit gives us confidence that God is still there.

So what did the Children of Israel do 3300 years ago when they began to starve? They did the very same thing I would have done. They played the blame game and went and talked to the man who got them into this mess.

God had a solution for His poor starving, discouraged, disgruntled children seeking to stay alive in that God forsaken waste land. (READ EXODUS 16:10-16 )

"The LORD said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other,

"What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'" (NIV)

God provided manna faithfully for the next 40 years. Life may not be fair but God is good and you're infinitely better off today walking with Jesus through your dark valley than you were sitting by the flesh pots of spiritual slavery in the Egypt of your life.

The issue for us today is, when the bubble bursts, to what extent can I trust God to meet my needs? You'll never learn the answer to that question until you learn to hear the voice of God's Spirit speaking into your spirit.

The day came when they had to leave the oasis of Elim. It had been a refreshing stop, 12 springs and 70 palm trees. Those 12 springs must have been gushers to meet the needs of two million thirsty people. They travelled on to a place named Rephidim and the Bible narrative says, "and there was no water." (See Exodus 17:1-3) Now isn't that the luck of the Irish? You no sooner get the food problem sorted out and you move into a water problem.

Have you ever gone for days without water? I read a book titled, "The Long Walk." It was the story of Slavomir Rawicz and the incredible 4000 mile walk from a Siberian slave camp, across the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas to freedom.

Eight escapees started across the Gobi Desert with nothing in which to carry water. Six emerged on the other side alive.
Their longest period under the blistering Gobi sun without water was thirteen days.

Writing about the day they found water Slav said, "We sweated it out for about three hours in throbbing discomfort, mouths open, gasping in the warm desert air over enlarged, dust-covered tongues. I was at my lowest ebb, working on the very dregs of stamina and resolution.

The water that saved our lives was an almost dried-out creek, of mud not more than 6 feet wide. We almost missed it, a slimy ooze which the killing desert was reluctant to reveal to us. We fell on our faces and sucked at the mud like demented men. We chewed mud for moisture and spat out the gritty residue.

Put yourself on the baking sand of the Sinai Peninsula. Listen to your little ones crying for water. Hear the anguish in their voices. The Children of Israel had enough faith to follow God's cloud to their present location. Two million people and no water. Moses, how irresponsible can you get? But was it really Moses? No, it was God who led them to Rephidim by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.

It doesn't compute, God led these people into a tight corner. Do you have a problem when God does that? I do. I've been taught to evaluate tough times from the perspective of, "What did I do wrong to deserve this?"

When I see others going through deep waters I tend to think, "Where did they go off track?" I grew up to believe tough times are God's hand of discipline and punishment and good times are God's blessing and reward because I was obedient.

This is a myth that is acquired from a superficial understanding of Scripture. It's true, some tough times are our own making. We have sowed to the wind and we reap a whirlwind. Many times we made the tight corner we're in.

It's true, many times God blesses our obedience, diligence and industriousness and brings us into a good land. But there are times when people find themselves in tight corners that they did not make. God led them into these tight corner at Rephidim. God was not punishing them or playing games with them.

This barren, waterless tract of wasteland was an ideal location for the 2nd semester in the University of life. The entire nation was working on an undergraduate degree in "God's Policies and Procedures"

When two million people are dying of thirst what do they do? They get desperate. "Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." (Exodus 17:4 NIV)
When the bubble bursts we always play the blame game.

Your child falls and skins her knees and one parent looks at the other and says, "Why did you let her fall?" When things go wrong we have this strange feeling that somebody somewhere must have done something wrong. The Children of Israel said, "Moses its all your fault.

Moses said, "God its all your fault." Moses was right, it was God's fault and God gave Moses the solution to the problem. Read Exodus 17:5-6 . "The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead 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." (NIV)

Moses was a bold fearless leader who trusted God implicitly. It doesn't take much imagination to see him going to the 70 Elders and informing them, "Fellows, God's going to give us water today."

"O sure Moses I suppose you're going to tell us it will come out of some solid rock?" "As a matter of fact it is. Gather all the people around the big rock at Horeb. Oh, and don't forget to bring your water jugs."

Next scene, Moses is standing by the big rock at Horeb looking out over a sea of thirsty angry faces. There they stand, water pots on their heads, scowls on their faces and stones in their hands. If this doesn't work, Moses will be hearing the bells of heaven ring. He will be history, entombed under a fresh pile of stones.

What the people didn't know is that there was also an invisible man standing by Moses at that rock. Read Exodus 17:6 "God said, "Behold I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb."

Moses prayed, struck the rock and with a mighty crack the rock burst open and out gushed a flow of water sufficient for two million parched people. This was no dinky trickle of water, it was a gusher of approx. 23,000 litres per minute. From a practical point of view you can see, when the bubble bursts it's important to hear the voice of God. He knows where there's bread and water."

So what's the point of the two stories? Does it teach us that when the bubble bursts, get real mad with the leader and God will deliver the goods? I doubt that's the lesson. Does it teach that when the bubble bursts and you're in the place of Gods choosing He will always deliver you? No, not always.

Could the lesson be, when the bubble bursts, be in the presence of someone who can hear God's voice telling you where the water is? NO. When life's bubbles burst, Trust God to do what He says He will do. He always keeps His word. That's why it's so important for us to learn to hear and recognize the voice of God.

A few years ago my nieces ten year old son Mark was shot to death at a Bible Camp in Alberta. His little friend who was hit by the same bullet told his mother the day before he went to camp that he had a dream and in the dream he was shot and hurt real bad.

It's so important for us to learn to hear and recognize the voice of God. God still speaks today. Would you recognize His voice if He spoke to you?