Week #1 Reflection: Exodus 17:1-7
Verse to memorize
“What shall I do with this people?”
Passage
About 1400 years before Jesus, Almighty God chose the people of Israel to be his chosen people. He asked the prophet Moses to lead them out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan, later known as Israel. The journey through the desert of Sinai was long and hard and the people complained repeatedly because of fear of death or lack of food and water. But God was with them by day in a shining cloud and by night in a pillar of fire. In this passage from the Book of Exodus, the Israelites are about six weeks out on the journey.
From the wilderness of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the LORD directed, and encamped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink,
and so they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to a test?”
Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why then did you bring us up out of Egypt? To have us die of thirst with our children and our livestock?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” The LORD answered Moses: Go on ahead of the people, and take along with you some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the Nile. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb (Sinai). Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink. Moses did this, in the sight of the elders of Israel. The place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?” (Exodus 17:1-7 NAB)
Questions
1. Why did the people complain to Moses?
2. The Israelites traveling in the desert had lost their homes, their food and regular source of water. With the Coranavirus, and its restrictions, what have you and your families lost? Do you know anyone who has died? Do you complain or grumble?
3. The Israelites did not know how long they would be in the desert. It turned out to be 40 years!!! Almost a whole generation died before they got to the land of Canaan. God made them completely dependent on Him. Are we dependent on God?
4. What was Moses afraid of? To whom did he cry out about his fear? Talking, or crying out to God is another name for ? Ans: prayer. Did God answer Moses’ prayer? Do you talk or cry out to God about the world-wide pandemic?
5. The Israelites asked if God was in their midst or not. Is God with us right now in the middle of the corona virus? Yes, He is, but He is invisible. How do we know that? He is in the hearts and minds of everyone working together in the government, hospitals, in the nursing homes, in the markets, in the ambulances, in all the volunteers bringing food to the soup kitchens and to the elderly. He is strengthening them with His love, grace and power.
Video
Courtesy of The Bible Project