Wilderness Worship

He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” [Exodus 17:7, NRSV]

In my younger days, I struggled with a teleological issue regarding the exodus of the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt: If YHWH’s intent was to lead them to a land of milk and honey—to a land of promise and plenty—why did YHWH require that they wander around in the desert for 40 years? Why not just make a beeline for Zion? Why postpone the inevitable fulfillment?

Then, still a number of years ago, as I read and reread the exodus narrative, while at the same time studying the Westminster Shorter Catechism (“the Catechism,” London, 1643), I began to wonder about the premise of my query. Not to get too far down into the weeds here, but was YHWH’s primary focus really to lavish riches and comfort upon His people, or was it rather to build a gathering—a community of faith—that would be one with each other and, more importantly, one with Him? My feeling that it was/is the latter.

Those of you within the Reformed Tradition have likely had more contact with the Catechism than others. You’ll recall the powerful first question—there are 107—and its even more powerful answer [my own wording]:

Q: What is the chief end of humanity?

A: To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Would YHWH have changed much between the time of the Israelites and 1643? I doubt it. YHWH always seems to prefer and enjoy relationship with humanity; He seems to have no desire to be thought of as a divine vending machine. After all, when YHWH tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand the people’s release, YHWH doesn’t tell Moses to ask for a 32-hour workweek, a 40% increase in pay, and more flexibility in retirement benefits. Instead, YHWH instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh that the Israelites will worship YHWH “in the wilderness” [Exodus 7:16].

It wasn’t that YHWH was trying to placate or fool Pharaoh, “If I make the request seem harmless, then may mighty Pharaoh will consent.” YHWH knows that Pharaoh isn’t going to consent under any normal circumstances. And when it comes to might, Pharaoh is powerless before the Almighty!

When Moses tells Pharaoh that he is to take the Israelites out into the wilderness to worship the One True God, that’s exactly what YHWH means. To be sure, there is harshness in the wilderness, but there is also training. Spending time in the harshness of the wilderness will allow sufficient time for the people’s spiritual formation. To borrow from the Catechism, worshipping in the wilderness will allow time for the people to learn how to glorify YHWH and enjoy Him forever.

Worshipping in the Wilderness—and so, by the time we reach the OT text appointed for this upcoming Sunday, Exodus 17:1-7 [Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A], not only has YHWH sent ten plagues upon Egypt, not only has He parted the Red Sea, but He has sent trials upon the Israelites. He has done so in order to mold them, strengthen them, and define them. One of the first such trials was for them to experience hunger, then to experience the redemptive presence of manna each morning (except for the Sabbath), followed by the difficult lesson of trust—gathering only one day’s supply of manna [Exodus 16:19-20]. I think of manna each time I pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Moreover, “one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” [Deuteronomy 8:3]. Jesus Himself would recite this verse in the face of Satan during his 40-day spiritual ordeal following His baptism.

As the Israelites became somewhat accustomed to the wilderness, no doubt many thought, “Indeed, one does not live by bread alone; one needs water.” And, as this week’s text shows, no sooner had thirst appeared among the group of migrants than did its companion—the complaining tongue. They threaten Moses. And so, led by YHWH, Moses takes some elders out to Horeb. Moses takes his staff, the same staff Moses used for the first Egyptian plague, when he struck the river Nile, turned it to blood, and made it undrinkable. Here, with the same stick, YHWH causes fresh, sweet water to spring forth from a rock. As He brought them out of Egypt, YHWH has again saved His people through His redemptive act.

Worshipping in the Wilderness—spiritual formation is, for most of us, a race at the pace of the tortoise, not the hare. It can be (should be?) painfully slow, with many steps backwards for every step forward. It usually is manifested in a host of life experiences that provide little contemporaneous satisfaction. We must experience various forms of hunger and thirst within our wilderness. We must take the difficult, but necessary step of seeing our hunger and thirst as opportunities to respond to His call, to see that hunger and thirst as an opportunity to trust that God will indeed provide us with daily bread (and water) sufficient for our needs.

Some of you—many of you—may be wandering in the wilderness. You’ve perhaps seen your income eroded by inflation. The virus that we thought we had licked may be raising its ugly head for an additional strike. So many around you seem to spend all their time bickering and blaming. If only we had Moses and his staff. You may echo the cry of the Israelites of so long ago, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

He is. He is among us in the form of Jesus Christ—Emmanuel. We don’t need Moses or his staff. Can we see that there is a Gospel message in Exodus 17, that despite our surroundings, despite the negative words that flow around us from many directions, despite the frailty of our bodies, our wallets, or our friends, sweet water flows in the wilderness. Moreover, YHWH can use not only that sweet spring on the road to Zion, but the thirst itself within us, to cause spiritual formation (reformation) to pour upon us, that we might glorify God and enjoy Him forever. He who has led us this far will lead us home.