Sunday Morning Podcast October 15, 2017. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT: EXODUS 17:1-7
1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
There was no water where the Israelites were led to pitch their tent. They murmured and chided Moses, blaming him for their misery, and so angry they nearly stoned him. Moses was leading by faith through God’s direction, which is one step at a time. It “appeared” to them that Moses didn’t know what he was doing, since he needed to wait on God. It was that fleshly mindset of the Israelites that led them to succumb to unbelief in the God that had delivered them from Egypt. Their hearts with complaining had become hardened, and resistant to a humble attitude. Meanwhile, Moses was concerned because he didn’t know where to find water. When he petitioned God in trust, God directed him to strike a rock for a miraculous supply.
Today, we also will go through hard and dry places, but we can know where to find the water of God for our help with a soft heart. But a stony heart will lead to a seared heart or conscience. You then will not benefit from an ability to worship with God’s people. We don’t want that to happen to us, if we want to serve God. In order to keep our heart soft, we must know how to live in the moment and presence of God. To live humbly. This is a natural spiritual desire. The natural fleshly minded man is not to have a soft heart toward God when living a life of sin.
Modern thinking in this world, does not encourage one to look towards God. This is the reason God’s children must reach out to souls with the message that can save them out of sin. The message that, when we live out God’s Word, it will help translate it for their understanding. It won’t help if we are prone to the thoughts, words, and mentality that is common place in the world’s everyday practices. The world and a merely religious people do not have the help that sinners need to find God. They don’t have the example of a pure life living above a sinful one. God’s instruction for us is to listen without delay with a soft heart; and to guard against the temptations and indifferences that will harden hearts. “For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.” Psalms 95:7,8
The Repentant and Soft Heart…