God is With Us in the Wilderness

Sermon preached at St. Mark’s, Honey Brook, PA, September 28, 2008

by The Rev. Thomas C. Pumphrey,

The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21, year A): Exodus 17:1-7

Exodus 17:1-7 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.” 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?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are 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?”

Many of you might be wondering—what are we doing worshipping downstairs in the church basement? There is a really practical answer: the construction has begun on our new stairs and ramp, leaving the only access upstairs through our narrow back stairs. We felt that it would be safer to worship together downstairs until at least one front entrance is open.

Of course, if I were a daring priest, I would tell you that it is only fair that we occasionally switch places with the Children’s Chapel who usually begin worship down here while the rest of us are upstairs. If I were even more daring, I would say that we are reminding ourselves of our connections to those Christians who worshipped in the catacombs of Rome. This church basement is far brighter than the catacombs, of course. And the Roman Christians worshipped there to avoid capture and execution for their faith. So perhaps worshipping down here reminds us of those in our day who face death for being disciples of Jesus: in the Sudan, in North Korea, and in Myanmar or elsewhere.

This morning, we heard a story of the people of God finding themselves away from their normal experience, and into a time of hardship. We’ve been hearing the story of the children of Israel and their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. In the last several weeks, we heard about Moses who was exiled from Egypt and encountered God in the burning bush at Horeb. God sends Moses to Egypt to free his people. God frees his people and Moses leads them out into the wilderness. Then we heard about their grumbling—grumbling about lack of food. So God gives them manna, and later quail. Now the people grumble about lack of water, and Moses then grumbles to God about the people. They all want to know, what is God doing in the wilderness?

The children of Israel are not the only people in the Bible to journey in the wilderness. Abraham journeyed in the wilderness, as did many prophets and King David. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, and Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days. The wilderness has become a cliché in the Christian life for an experience of challenge or difficulty—a time of hardship to endure as individuals, as a nation, as a church or as a family. We cry out to God with our complaint wondering why we are in that season of hardship. We fear that the hardship will not end. We experience loss of hope and loss of trust. Where is God while we are in the wilderness?

Sometimes we lose trust in God because we have mistakenly equated God’s presence with our material prosperity or wellbeing. The moment our comfort is shaken, we read that as a sign of God’s absence. But perhaps God is still with us in these wilderness times. God is with the children of Israel, even in the wilderness. God is bringing them to the promised land, and God knows that they need to learn to find his presence even in times of need—even in times of sickness or poverty. God knows that they will one day be exiled from their land. They will need to learn to rely on God’s presence even without the prosperity they crave.

So God cares for them, providing manna and quail. But even after the miracles of deliverance from slavery, and even after God provides for their needs, they still grumble the next time they face a new need. Where is God, they might wonder. But God is with them—God is with them in the wilderness.

So God answers Moses’ grumbles and tells him to take some of the elders of Israel and go to Horeb. There, God will provide water. Moses does this, but the story doesn’t really say much about how the water came, or how all the people thirst was quenched. What we read about is a demonstration of God’s trustworthiness. What we read about at Horeb is a demonstration that we have cause for hope and faith and trust in God—and that God is with us in the wilderness.

I find it interesting that God brings Moses and the elders to Horeb. What happened the last time Moses was at Horeb? That was where Moses encountered God in the burning bush. God calls Moses, and Moses is frightened about his calling. He asks “who am I?” and God responds “I will be with you.” And God tells Moses “this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” And here they are. They are at Horeb, where the Lord has delivered them from slavery and fed them and preserved them in the wilderness.

Scholars say that Horeb is probably the same place as Sinai. This is the place where God has brought them to make a covenant with them. He will be their God, and they will be his people.

God makes a covenant with us. In Jesus Christ, that covenant of forgiveness and new life will never be broken. God is with us in our prosperity, and God is with us in the wilderness. God is with us in our losses, amid our fears and even amid our despair. God’s presence may not eliminate the true hardships that we face, but God’s presence and power in our lives is far more powerful than any wilderness. God is with us in the wilderness, and God will bring us through to the promised land.

What is God doing in the wilderness? God brings us bread and meat and water in the wilderness. God makes a covenant with us in the wilderness. God is with us, and we are his people, even in the wilderness.