Exodus 16:1-18
A few years ago, USA Today reported that the Department of Transportation had set aside
$200 million for research and testing of an Automated Highway System.
The system could relieve traffic congestion with a new "super cruise control"
built into our highways.
Special magnets would be embedded in the road every four feet.
These magnets would transfer signals between the cars and the D.O.T.'s computer system.
Cameras along the side of the highway and computer navigation systems, together with the sensors
would control steering, acceleration, and braking.
Control would be returned to drivers as they left at specified exits.
Researchers and government officials claim they could deal with any potential problem.
But there is one problem they cannot overcome.
They said, "The only thing we can't do, is to get people to trust the system.
It's not a technology issue." People feel out of control while driving closely spaced, at high speeds,
through major cities.
The problem is not technology, the problem is trust.
Very few people would be willing to give up their ability to control.
This is the human dilemma -- giving up control.
Trusting something that you are not in control of, even if that something can do it better.
That was the situation of the people of Israel.
God was asking them to give Him control, and they did not want to.
Think about what had happened to them in less than six months.
They were slaves in Egypt.
They were beaten regularly and worked unmercifully from sunup to sunset.
The Egyptians were killing every male child that was born.
The Hebrews were huddled in their miserable little huts and lived in squalor.
But then Moses appeared, and announced that God was going to deliver them.
He told them that, "God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham,
with Isaac and with Jacob.
So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them." (Exodus 2:24-25)
Almost on a daily basis, they saw the miraculous power of God.
He fought for them, and delivered them.
They saw the plagues that devastated the Egyptians, yet that did not affect them.
The Lord led them to the Red Sea.
They looked at the Red Sea before, and saw the Egyptian army pursuing them.
They were filled with fear, and cried out to God.
God miraculously parted the sea before, while Pharaoh's army was destroyed in the waters.
On the other side of the sea, again, God demonstrated that He would provide for them.
The next miracle was the bread and meat that God provided.
What other proofs of God's power and provision did they need?
All that had happened should have been enough to convince them that God was with them
and was able to provide for them.
After all, His presence was going before them in a pillar of cloud and fire.
But they were only a few miles out of Egypt, when they started complaining.
They grumbled to Moses, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us
and our children and livestock die of thirst?" (Exodus 17:3)
They had forgotten all that God had done for them.
They had forgotten the amazing miracles that God had displayed on their behalf.
Moses cried out to God saying, "What am I to do with these people?
They are almost ready to stone me." (Exodus 17:4)
The Lord answered Moses saying, "Walk on ahead of the people.
Take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take 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."
Then the Bible says, "So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
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?'" (Exodus 17:5-7)
What an incredible accusation!
How much evidence did they need to realize the Lord was with them?
So the next time, someone says to you, "If there really is a God, why doesn't He show himself?
If he exists, why doesn't He do some miracle so that everyone will see it?
Then they will believe in Him?"
Tell them that God has done that many times, and it didn't do any good.
He demonstrated His love for them and showed them His power.
He was visibly present with them and spoke to them out of heaven, and it didn't matter.
They still did not believe; their hearts were still full of rebellion.
This was true in the New Testament.
God came in visible form, in the person of Jesus.
He told them of His love.
He demonstrated that love with blessings and miracles.
He miraculously provided food, and they did not believe in Him.
He miraculously healed many, and they did not believe in Him.
In fact, in response to all the good that He did; they killed Him.
God brought the Hebrew people into the Sinai desert for a purpose.
He was testing them.
Why would God test them?
Why not just meet their needs without making them wait and wonder?
Why not anticipate their needs and give them what they needed before they asked?
God was trying to grow their faith.
God was testing them because he wanted them to learn the most important lesson of life:
how to trust and obey Him.
This is the most important lesson that we can ever learn.
First, God makes a promise.
Second, He tests our faith -- our ability to believe the promise.
Third, He watches for our obedience -- our ability to walk in the light of that promise.
Fourth, He grants his blessing -- the fulfillment of the promise.
This is what God did with Noah.
He made a promise.
He tested Noah to see if he would believe what He told him, even though the flood did not
come for many years.
Then God watched for Noah's obedience, and when He saw Noah's obedience,
He gave him deliverance and life.
God did the same with Abraham.
The promise of a son was given.
The Lord waited to see if Abraham would believe the promise, in spite of years that Abraham had to wait.
He watched for Abraham's obedience, and then rewarded him with the son of promise.
That is how God works with you.
He reassures you with a promise of hope for the future.
But the promise is sometimes delayed, and it may look like it will never happen.
God is testing your faith.
He watches for obedience, and when you have learned to trust him, He delivers the promised blessing.
What is the purpose of these tests?
What is God trying to do?
These tests of faith will show what is inside of us.
The testing of our faith brings out the best or the worst in us -- sometimes both.
The Hebrews failed the test time after time.
They grumbled, whined and complained.
They accused God of wrongdoing.
They failed to follow God and to love Him.
More than once, they rebelled against the leadership of Moses, and were ready to kill him.
While Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, they were worshiping
the gods of Egypt.
When it came time to enter the land promised to them by God, they refused to go.
All they could see was the difficulties and the danger.
The forgot the presence, provision and power of God.
He had proved Himself over and over.
These tests brought out the best in men like Joshua and Caleb.
It brought out the best and the worst in Moses.
He continued to love God and to love the people; in spite of the hard time they gave him.
When they kept on complaining, he became so angry that he pounded on the rock with his staff
in frustration, losing his temper.
This act of rage kept him from entering the Promised Land.
God was teaching Moses lessons of faith and obedience, which were more important than
entering the Promised Land.
Today, we want the blessing and we want it now.
We are a culture of convenience.
Perseverance is not our forte.
But God is not playing with us.
We must learn that there are some things more important than receiving blessings.
Learning to trust God is vitally important.
Experience is the toughest teacher.
It gives you the test, first, and the lesson, afterward.
The question is: Will it bring out the best or the worst in us?
A tall young Army officer watched the clock nervously.
In just a few minutes, he would see the woman, who had written to him for the past year and a half.
They had never met.
In one of his letters he told her how afraid he was to go into battle.
A few days before going into battle, he received a letter from her.
She wrote: "Of course you fear... all brave men do.
Next time you doubt yourself, I want you to hear my voice reciting to you:
'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil,
for thou art with me.'"
Those words strengthened him for his next battle.
Time had passed, and now, he was going to meet the woman, who had written those words.
He was at the airport waiting.
They were to meet at six.
He didn't know what she looked like.
She had refused his request to send him her photograph.
She wrote: "If your feelings for me were real, what I look like won't matter."
At four minutes to six, a lady approached him, and his heart jumped.
She was wearing a flower, but it was not a little red rose.
It was one minute to six, and he was excited.
This young woman was coming closer.
Her figure was long and slim; her blond hair lay back in curls from delicate ears.
Her eyes were blue as flowers, her lips and chin had a gentle firmness.
In her pale, green suit, she was like springtime.
He started toward her, not noticing that she was not wearing a rose.
As she moved past, she gave a small, provocative smile.
"Going my way, soldier?" she murmured.
Then, he saw another woman -- wearing a red rose.
She was walking directly behind the girl in the green suit.
She was well past 40.
Her graying hair was tucked under a worn hat.
She was plump, and her red rose was pinned to a rumpled coat.
The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away.
Lt. Blandford felt exceedingly drawn to the smiling girl, but he had a great longing for the woman
whose spirit had touched him so deeply.
Now, she was standing before him, and he could see that though her face was plain and pale,
it was gentle and sensible.
Her gray eyes exuded warmth.
He greeted her warmly.
He said to himself that this may not be the love of his life, but this would be a very, special friendship.
"I'm Lt. Blandford," he said.
"And you're Miss Maynell. I'm so glad you could meet me.
May I take you to dinner?"
The woman looked at him with a questioning smile and said, "I don't know what
this is all about, son, but that young lady in the green suit, begged me to wear this rose on my coat.
She told me that if you asked me to go out with you, I should tell you she's waiting for you
in that restaurant across the street.
She said it was some kind of test."
God is testing the quality of our love and devotion.
He wants to see what is inside -- whether we are real or false.
Whatever is inside will come out in the test.
It will bring out the best in us or the worst in us, and what comes out will determine,
whether or not, we pass the test.
Our faith would never grow, if we never had to wait on God.
We would never learn to trust Him, if He met our needs, before we knew that we that we had such needs.
Our faith grows, when we exercise it.
We would never learn to trust God, if every prayer was answered immediately.
If we never tasted failure, we would never grow in faith.
Fred Astaire was one of the greatest entertainers of all time.
He could sing, dance and act like no one else.
In his famous movies, he danced and crooned his way into people's hearts all over the world.
But when Astaire was just starting out in 1932, a Hollywood talent judge wrote on his screen test:
"Can't act. Can't sing. Can dance a little."
But that review did not defeat him.
It was a test of his determination.
There will be times in your life when someone will tell you that you can't do something important to you.
They will say that it can't be done.
They will discourage you.
They will tell you that you are dreaming to trust God.
They will make you think that you can't live by faith.
But it is only a test to see if you will be defeated or determined.
This will be a test to determine whether you will have fear or have faith.
That is the test.
Testing times prove the faithfulness of God.
As unfaithful as the Hebrew people were, God remained faithful.
Isn't that amazing!
The Bible says, "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."
(2 Timothy 2:13)
In spite of the people's failure, in spite of their rebellion, in spite of their rejecting God's love,
God remained faithful to them.
In spite of their unfaithfulness, God remained faithful to his people.
He provided them with food and water in the desert.
He sheltered them and protected them.
He loved them with an everlasting love.
We will go through difficult times.
But God will be faithful.
He will see us through those times!
The path will sometimes be around these difficulties; sometimes over them, and often, it will be through them.
But we will never travel alone.
God will always be there to guide, comfort and provide.
When we give control of our lives to God, He will take control and work out His marvelous will in our lives.
Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
(Matthew 6:26)
If God can feed all the birds in the world, you know He can care for you.
If He can feed all the plants, insects, fish and animals, then He can also meet your needs.
Say with the apostle Paul: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."
(2 Timothy 1:12)
This is a test!
Use this test to see what is inside you.
Use it to grow in your faith.
Use it to prove again and again the faithfulness of God.
Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White