From Grumbling to Faithfulness

Exodus 17:3-7; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-26

Today's sermon begins with a riddle. This is the riddle: When is it that we may think that we are in the midst of God's judgment, when we are really only out in the wilderness? And while we are in the middle of this wilderness in our lives, when is it that we may also think that what we once had was Eden when all it actually was was Egypt?

To understand this riddle we need our Old Testament lesson for today where we are told that the people of Israel were out in the wilderness with Moses and that they were thirsty. And they began to complain to Moses and ask him why it was they he had led them out there to die. They began to blame God for their hardship and began to believe that their thirst, and what they thought to be their impending death, was a judgment from God against them.

Sometimes changes in our lives bring on thinking like this. Sometimes the decisions we make or the things that happen to us cause us to be lead out into the wilderness for a while. And while we are there in the wilderness things may happen to us which test our faith and our stamina to the extant that we may wonder if it is a wilderness or God's judgment that we have wandered into.

Take the death of a spouse, for example: When a husband or a wife dies, things change abruptly. Suddenly, the problems of life can become unfamiliar and strange to us. Without warning new challenges can confront us that we never dreamed about before. Things such as paying bills, dealing with probate, insurance companies, taking care of the house and other unfamiliar chores, and many other things, can suddenly seem much like the experience that the Israelites had out in the wilderness when they were thirsty. Like them, we may not know where to turn for help. Like them, we may begin to unfairly blame others for our problems. We may feel anger. And we may even begin to believe that God has deserted us, wondering if "the Lord is with us or not."

Indeed, many experiences in life can lead us into such thinking. Moving from one community to another can sometimes do this. Getting a new job, suffering a divorce, getting sick, having an operation, having a baby, winning the lottery, buying a new house, loosing a friend, any of these things can sometimes lead us to wondering about God's role in our lives. Changes, even simple changes in a worship service, may be enough to make us hesitate and wonder where God is in all of it. Like the Israelites, we may think that the wilderness is God's judgment and forget that the wilderness may really be only God's way of nudging us to learn and to grow and to perhaps become more than what we are.

Sometimes when we are out in the wilderness, we may even begin to idealize the conditions of our lives before the changes that brought on our wilderness experience. For the Israelites, they began to remember their slavery in Egypt as though it was the garden of Eden. Remembering that at least they had food to eat and water to drink in Egypt, they began to look at their departure from Egypt as though it was a terrible loss. They began to mourn the loss of their old way of live, even if it was slavery.

You hear people talking about the good old days in much the same way. People talk about "that old time religion" as though it was the all time paradigm of Christian virtue. And, yet, "that old time religion" is simply what many people recall as the religious experience of their childhood. And one person's old time religion may be someone else's altogether. It all depends upon which song book they may have used when they were kids, or what sort of preaching or worship service the pastor led when they were young. Somehow, we forget that there were problems and troubles to be dealt with back then. Perhaps this is because we weren't the ones who had to deal with them, but our parents and grandparents. And while they were trying to solve the problems of the church and of the world, they, too, probably longed for the way things were "back in the good old days!"

The Israelites longed for Egypt in much the same way, as they stood in the wilderness, thirsty. And the scripture lesson tells us that they complained to Moses and even threatened to stone him.

I've sometimes felt a real compassion for what Moses must have gone through. A vacation my wife and I took to Colorado before our children were born comes to mind. We had just bought a new Volkswagen Rabbit, a small tent, and some camping gear. So, we felt we were ready to tackle the Rockies.

"This VW can handle the highest mountains!" I bragged to my wife, Linda. "After all," I said, "they build these cars to be driven in the alps."

So, we loaded our car and went west to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I was in the driver seat. I was like Moses, taking his people to new horizons.

We spent the first night in a campground at about 9,000 feet. In spite of the fact that we had sleeping bags and mattresses, we about froze to death. When we woke up in the morning there was snow on the side of our tent, even though it was almost July. And, then, to top it off, when we got into the VW Rabbit, it would hardly start.

That should have been warning enough. Nevertheless, I decided to take Linda sight seeing and taking a one lane, unpaved road up the side of one of the tallest mountains. Well, the higher we went, the worse things got, until, finally, the engine would stall before it could get enough R.P.M.s to get the transmission into first gear. It took a guy in a Volvo to give me a push so that we could get the rest of the way up the mountain and then back down the other side. And, even then, his little push cost me a tail light.	Here I had tried to show my wife the sights of the wilderness. But, as it did for Moses, everything seemed to be going wrong. And don't think I didn't hear some murmuring coming from the passenger seat!

And pastors sometimes experience the same thing as they lead their congregations into different experiences. And during those times, even congregations can sometimes remember Egypt as though it was Eden and mistake the wilderness for judgment.

But, Moses was blessed. Somehow, just at the right moment God would come through for him. In our scripture lesson for today we are told that just as the people were murmuring Moses took his rod and stuck a stone so that, suddenly, water gushed forth, giving the people what they needed. And as Moses watched their shocked faces, he asked his people, "Well, is the LORD among us, or not?"

Certainly, we need to be asking this question among ourselves, constantly. We think we are having trouble in our own wildernesses, we need to ask, "Well, is the LORD among us, or not?" When a loved one dies, when we get sick, when we feel lonely, we need to remember Moses' water from the rock and ask, "Well, is the LORD among us, or not?" When changes come, when we feel depressed, when the sun doesn't look like it's going to come up, we need to remember Moses' question, "Well, is the LORD among us, or not?"

Indeed, the Lord is among us. And, not only that, but the refreshing, life giving water is ours to drink, as well. That water is offered to each of us, just as it was offered to that Samaritan woman at the well.

I am reminded of the account of how fresh water is found in Bahrain, a little country along the Persian Gulf, one of the hottest places on earth. At Bahrain the arid shore has no fresh water, yet a comparatively large population is able to live there because of the many springs which break forth from the bottom of the sea. The fresh water is gotten by diving for it.

People go out onto the salt water of the Persian Gulf in boats. Then, divers, sitting in the boats, wind large goatskin bags around one arm, the hand holding the bag's mouth shut. Then, holding a large stone in the other hand, to which is attached a strong rope, the diver jumps into the water and goes to the bottom where the springs are.

Instantly opening their bags over the strong jets of fresh water, the divers fill their bags and then close them. Letting go of their rocks, the divers then rise to the surface on the ascending columns of water and are then helped back into the boats.

Sometimes the wilderness journeys we take may seem like dismal, gloomy places. But, if we will trust in God, if we will trust in those who are given to us to be our guides, we will find the life giving water we need to not only survive but to grow on and thrive on, as well. The wilderness may look dry, at first. But, if we will begin to look a little deeper, that which gives life is there for us. Amen.