Exodus: The Power of God’s Presence | Exodus 15:22–27; 16:1-8; 17:1–7

Pastor of Formation & Mission Benjamin Kandt begins the second part of our Exodus series, The Power of God's Presence, by preaching through the temptation narratives in Exodus 15-17. Here, we see that God leads us through the wilderness of testing to find freedom in His presence.

Chapters

• 0:03 Lessons Learned in the Wilderness
• 6:12 Testing for Power and Finding Freedom
• 16:06 Testing, Lament, and Healing in Trials
• 26:55 Drama, Perception, and God's Provision
• 41:49 God's Unshakable Mercy and Presence

Transcript

Hannah Corlew: 0:20

Please stand and pray with me. Thank God, help us to hear your word with open hearts so that we may truly understand and believe and believing that we may follow in faithfulness and obedience, through Christ, our Lord. Amen. If able, please remain standing for today's scripture reading, which comes from portions of Exodus 15, 16, and 17.

Hannah Corlew: 0:49

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea and they went into the wilderness of shore. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Mara, they could not drink the water at Mara because it was bitter. Therefore it was named Mara. And the people grumbled against the Lord, saying what shall we drink? And he cried to the Lord. And the Lord showed him a log and he threw it in the water and the water became sweet. Then the Lord made for them a statue and a rule, and there he tested them, saying if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord, your God, and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all of his statutes. I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer. Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Hannah Corlew: 1:44

They set out from Elim and all the congregation of the people of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the people of Israel said to them would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel at evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said when the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble against him. What are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord.

Hannah Corlew: 3:08

And the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages, according to the commandments of the Lord, and they camped at Redifim. But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said give us water to drink. And Moses said to them why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water.

Hannah Corlew: 3:30

And the people grumbled against Moses and said why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried out to the Lord what shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hands the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock of Horab, and there you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people shall drink. And Moses did so, and in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called on the name of the place, massa and Meriba. Because of the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the Lord by saying is the Lord among us or not? This is God's word.

Benjamin Kandt: 4:20

Thanks be to God.

Hannah Corlew: 4:21

Please be seated.

Benjamin Kandt: 4:23

When we were in Israel, we learned that there's this ancient synagogue practice of the scripture reading always has to be longer than the sermon Another way to say that sermon has to be shorter than the scripture reading, which is brilliant, right, if God should outweigh the words of men. We're not going to do that today, I'm sorry. So buckle up, bear with me. The aboriginal people of Australia send their young men out into the outback at a certain age, probably between 12 to 15 years old, where they face an uninhabitable environment, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures, some of those deadly snakes in the world and if they don't know how to build a shelter and hunt and forge for food and know which plants are medicinal, they will not make it back alive. But if they do, they're received back into the community and they find a new place in it. Similarly, the Inuit have a tradition where, when their children are strong enough, usually around 12 years old, the elders lead them into the Arctic for their first hunt. Okay, while they're out in the Arctic, they bring tents and spears and they have to kit whatever they need to eat. They have to kill it in order to eat it, and while they're there, they travel for miles for weeks on end in hunt of listen to this a narwhal, a caribou or a bearded seal. You have to get one of those three or you don't come back. Just pause for a moment. A narwhal, that's like one of those unicorn whales, like that's insane. And a 12 year old has to kill it and bring it back in order to accomplish this, in order to pass. And so, when they're out in the wilderness and the Arctic, it toughens them, it strengthens them, it teaches them skills that they carry with them the rest of their life.

Benjamin Kandt: 6:12

My favorite, though, is the Maasai tribe of Kenya and Tanzania area. They send their young man, around 15 years old, into the savannah to hunt a male lion. Nothing less than that will do. They don't have a rifle or a bow. They actually have a spear, and they train for years to prepare for this. It's a big deal, and as they're preparing, they have to develop strength and endurance and undaunted courage. Literally, they have to bet their lives on their ability to persevere through this test, and so, as they go out to hunt a male lion, they cannot sneak up on it. In fact, they actually bring with them a rattle with bells on it, so that the lion faces them face to face and they have to kill it with a spear face to face. If they do that, if they pass, they officially transition into being a Maasai warrior. If they fail, they officially transition into being lion food. This is what they have before them and I love this. The Maasai association casually says it like this many warriors have been lost to lions. Simply put, what do all of these have in common? They're all tests. They're all tests.

Benjamin Kandt: 7:33

These times of testing are so universally practiced throughout place and time. Almost every culture in every time and place has some form of what has now been called a rites of passage. This term was coined in the 1909 by a guy named Arnold Van Genep and he studied these across cultures and there's a wide diversity, but they have this in common there's this transition from girlhood to womanhood, from boyhood to manhood, and it goes through this what's called a rites of passage. Every culture throughout time and place has had these. Until today, modern and Western American culture were like well, I'm just glad I don't send my sophomore to fight a lion and I get that.

Benjamin Kandt: 8:16

But we coined a term helicopter parenting and we actually have an improved version of that which is called snow plow parenting, which means you just aggressively get in front of your kids and plow any obstacles out of their way so that they just have an easy path to walk down. This is modern Western parenting, and you might think listen, isn't that better than sending our kids out to be eaten by unicorn whales? I don't know. You tell me how's this working for us? One study found that anxiety and depression rates in college students rose roughly 80% in the generation just after helicopter parenting began. In his book the Comfort Crisis, michael Easter says that new research shows that depression, anxiety, feeling like you don't belong, risky behavior and even suicide quote can be linked to being untested. So we send our kids into a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world without being taught or tested to face that world. No other culture would be so foolish. Even God, the good and kind father, in his wisdom, tests his children.

Benjamin Kandt: 9:32

And so what if I told you I knew of something that could help you experience God as more real than you do right now? What if I could tell you there was something that could help you experience you more real than you do right now? What if I could tell you there was something that would enable you to find a relaxed contentment with life as you have it, here and now, not there and then when it's. You know whatever checkpoint you're waiting for to achieve. What if I could tell you that you could grow in endurance to continue doing what is right despite a mounting desire to stop? What if I could tell you that you could have an unmatched level of self-awareness, that you could develop a vital prayer life, that you could develop integrity personally, that you could have strength for your faith? What if I could tell you that there was something that could give you all of these things? Would you be interested? Well, every one of those is a. I could give you the direct quotation from scripture that the Bible promises each and every one of those things to those who experience what the Bible calls testing, testing.

Benjamin Kandt: 10:39

And so what I wanna do this morning is look at Exodus 15, 16 and 17, where there are three tests that occur, and I wanna see what can the Bible, what can ancient Israel teach us about facing testing in our lives today? So, if you have a Bible, get to Exodus 15, verse 22,. And we're gonna look at this, maybe not verse by verse, but paragraph by paragraph together, and this is the one point that I'm gonna work out through those three tests. Here's the one point God leads us through the wilderness of testing to find freedom in his presence. God leads us through the wilderness of testing to find freedom in his presence. Look at test number one water made sweet. From Exodus 15, 22,. It says this Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea and they went into the wilderness. Of sure, they went three days in the wilderness. Now, throughout scripture, the story of scripture, the wilderness is the place of testing. That's important. They went to the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Mera, they could not drink the water of Mera because it was bitter and therefore it was called Mera.

Benjamin Kandt: 11:45

The question the Israelites are asking in this moment, the question that you are asking in moments of testing, is can God bring sweetness out of the bitterness of my life right now? Can God bring sweetness out of the bitterness of your singleness? Can God bring sweetness out of the bitterness of your work? Can God bring sweetness out of the bitterness of your relationships? God, can you bring sweetness out of this bitternessanger? Now the Israelites are in a dry and weary land where there is no water. They finally stumble upon water and it's undrinkable. Talk about mismet expectations. So what do they do? Verse 24, and the people grumbled against Moses saying what shall we drink?

Benjamin Kandt: 12:33

10 times in our texts the word grumble occurs 10 times, and I think the reason is because Israel is, in many ways, a picture and a pattern of all of humanity, and so we're supposed to learn from them. 1 Corinthians 10 tells us from this actual story in particular, you see, because grumbling is just bitterness that bubbles up to the surface. That's all that it is, and so Jesus said that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So when you grumble, it's because there's a bitterness, there's a resentment, there's an entitlement in your heart that is now being articulated by your lips. That's what happens when we grumble, and our cultural moment has actually institutionalized resentment and bitterness and entitlement. This is just the air we breathe, the water that we swim in. I don't want you to think by that I mean, oh yeah, them out there. I mean you, me, in here. We're influenced, we're affected by this. Every single one of us I really believe this Every single one of us, every single day, has thousands of reasons to grumble or be grateful.

Benjamin Kandt: 13:44

There's the options, and the difference is perspective. It makes all the perspective in the world. Some of you know people who do this. When you're at like a coffee shop or whatever and the barista says, hey, how are you? And they say better than I deserve. And some of you are like that's kind of just cheeky and Christian-ese and listen, it is a little bit, I get that, but there's a truth in that. That's actually really profound. What do you deserve? What do I deserve? Consider that for a moment, because that's gonna shape your perspective on the thousand things that you have come at you every day. That could be fodder for grumbling or fodder for gratitude.

Benjamin Kandt: 14:26

And what testing does is it actually reveals these deeply held commitments about what I deserve in life. Imagine being free from that. Imagine the freedom from no longer carrying entitlement with you wherever you go. Imagine no longer having to deal with bitterness and resentment because you feel like you're wronged so frequently. Imagine the joy and the freedom from having to keep track of all of the little slights you experience on a daily basis. God wants to set you free from that, because he leads us through the wilderness of testing to find freedom from resentment and entitlement and bitterness. Only testing can produce new city to be not a community of entitlement but a community of thankfulness in a world of entitlement.

Benjamin Kandt: 15:17

I told you a few weeks back that Camp Family has a motto which is can'ts aren't cannibals. My kids are not allowed to bite or eat each other. We have another one, which we've been working on, which is be grateful, don't grumble. And in that moment you might feel like, well, that's kind of a little bit demanding of a three-year-old. All I'm inviting my children to do is to pay attention. In this moment we're disappointed, we're discouraged, we're sad, we got rained out, we didn't make it on time, whatever it is, and in that moment we have something that we can be thankful to God for, or we have something that we could grumble over, and perspective makes all the difference in that moment. And so, listen, trials, things that we face, they don't actually put bitterness in us. They don't actually put bitterness in our hearts. They draw the bitterness out of our hearts so that we can deal with it honestly there.

Benjamin Kandt: 16:06

In Scripture, one of the best metaphors for trials and testing is this idea of smelting gold, where you put gold into a fire and you melt it, and as you melt it, all of the impurities kind of rise to the surface so that you can draw them out, and then you have this refined gold in its place. That's what trials, that's what testing does to us. It surfaces these areas where we are tempted towards bitterness and resentment and entitlement, so that we can deal with those things in community and before God in a meaningful way, and it leaves behind a gold that's refined by fire, as Peter puts it. And so if we don't groan, what do we do? Look with me at verse 25. It says in Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. And so don't hear what I'm not saying.

Benjamin Kandt: 17:01

There actually is a place to articulate your grievances. That is a real thing. It's actually very important to be able to do that. And what the Bible calls that, the Scriptures call that form of holy complaint. They call it lament, lament, or Romans eight puts it like this groaning, groaning and grumbling are not the same thing. Here's the difference you bring those complaints into the presence of God and they are sanctified there, they are made holy there. Unleash your complaints. If you find bitterness, resentment, entitlement stirring up in your heart, let it loose. Corum deo, which is Latin for before the face of God. And those complaints right there turn from grumbling into groaning, into lament, and they're sanctified there.

Benjamin Kandt: 17:50

Moses cried to the Lord. You better believe. It Doesn't say he prayed, it doesn't say he talked, although he does those things right here. He cried to the Lord. He feels the pain, he's aware that life is really challenging. Right now we're in a wilderness and the only water we can find is undrinkable. And as he cries to the Lord, god showed him a log to make sweet tea with. And this word showed is actually important. It actually is the root word for the word Torah, or instruction, or direction. The first five books of the Bible are called the Torah because God instructs his people. I love this because it's significant to think the word prayer and the word precarious come from the same root word.

Benjamin Kandt: 18:32

In times of testing, life feels precarious and then we can pray. We don't pray because we don't find our lives being very precarious. We're shielded and insulated from our vulnerabilities. But God in testing allows us to be set free from that. So we call out to him and then he shows us things that were there all along. I have a hunch it's not in the text that that log was there all along and until Moses cried out. Then the Lord showed, instructed, directed his attention to it and said try that.

Benjamin Kandt: 19:04

So in times of testing, brothers and sisters, cry out. God, show me what you're up to in this. Show me. That's what it says. The Lord showed him one of my favorite prayers Show me more. Show me more, god. What are you up to? Where are you at? How are you at work in this? Why are you doing this? How are you gonna turn this testing into something good? How are you going to bring, show me, how you're gonna bring, sweetness out of the bitterness of this moment. In my life, that's what it looks like to groan, to lament instead of grumble. Look with me at verse 25. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule and there he tested them, saying if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord, your God, and do that which is right in his eyes and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians. You can assume it's probably the Nile water being turned into blood, because they're in need of water right now. It's probably what he's referring to there.

Benjamin Kandt: 20:06

Why, for I am the Lord, I am Yahweh, your healer. Simply put, the purpose of testing is to teach you to hear and obey out of love. To hear and obey out of love how do we become those who actually lean in and climb our ears to hear God so that we can obey God? That only happens through testing, where we learn through the healing power of love. One of the ways to talk about what testing is doing is it's surfacing everything in your life that hinders love. There's a lot in your life that hinders love for God and for neighbor, and God, through testing, is surfacing those things. He's bringing the impurities of your heart of disloyalty and distrust. He's bringing those to the surface so they can be dealt with with him. So God woos us to hear and obey by reminding us I am Yahweh, your healer. That's who I am. I'm here to heal you.

Benjamin Kandt: 21:07

I do inflict wounds in order to heal, like a good surgeon. That's what happens in testing. I heard it said recently that the difference between a surgeon and a coroner is they both inflict wounds, they both take bodies apart, but only a surgeon can put them back together. God's not a coroner in this situation. He's a surgeon he cuts, he inflicts. He afflicts the comfortable and then he comforts the afflicted. That's the way that God works, through testing. And then it goes on in verse 27,.

Benjamin Kandt: 21:37

Then they came to Elim where there were 12 springs of water Remember 12 and 70 palm trees? 12 and 70s are. Those are numbers of perfection, fullness, wholeness in the Bible. And they camped there by the water. Christian, you live between Egypt and Elim. You live in the wilderness between Egypt and Elim. You live in that wilderness. The tension of the times is where we are right now. We are not yet in this oasis of the presence of God, where all of our tears are wiped away, where pain and sorrow and death shall be no more. We are not there yet, but we know we're heading there and the Israelites get a glimpse of what that paradise might look like. And so God is leading us through the wilderness of testing so that we might find freedom in the oasis of his presence. Here and now. Four tastes. But there and then, when Jesus comes back and makes all things new, there will be a fullness of that freedom in the oasis of the presence of God.

Benjamin Kandt: 22:37

Let's look at the second test here bread from heaven, exodus 16. Look at verse one with me. They set out from Elim and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. This is important. They left Egypt a month ago and they've only experienced miraculous provision in that whole process of leaving Egypt till today. That's actually a really important context. It goes on and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Clearly, the sweet tea was not enough and the people of Israel said to them would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by meat pots and ate bread to the fold?

Benjamin Kandt: 23:24

Does anybody else, does your escapism present as idealizing the past? Okay, just me and the Israelites. All right, we're going on For you, who have? You have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Maybe you'll be more honest with me here. Does anybody else impute motives to other people when you're in a bad place? It's exactly what they do here Murderous motives. You are deliberately trying to kill us. Big Mo, what are you up to? What not to do in testing? Don't take it out on the people around you. It's a real temptation.

Benjamin Kandt: 24:04

Psychologists call this projection. Think about a projector. A projector takes an image and shines it onto a wall, or something like that. In projection, we take the worst that's in us and we project it on those around us, especially our leaders, especially those who have authority over us. John Mark Comer, a pastor in, used to be a pastor in Portland area, somebody who I've learned a lot from, has been really helpful. He says it like this much of the so-called cancel culture is a form of projection, an attempt to offload the fear of shame and rejection. By shaming and rejecting others, in particular anyone in leadership or in power, bitterness in your heart turns into blame towards other people.

Benjamin Kandt: 24:50

So how does the Lord respond? He tests them. Look at verse four. Then the Lord said to Moses behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you and the people should go out and gather a day's portion every day that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. This test is about timing, which, if you're in a trial, timing is everything. Psalm 13 begins how long, oh Lord. But this test of timing. Look at verse four. It says it's really the test of will I have enough in time? Verse four says this a day's portion every day. This is, I think, where Jesus gets the phrase give us this day our daily bread from this story in Israel. But listen, if you're anything like me, I want monthly bread, like your boy doesn't want daily bread. Because I gotta wait and expect it's gonna show up tomorrow. I'd love to get October's portion on September 30th, 31st I never know which month to have 31 days. I wanna know if I can get October's portion at the end of September. I don't wanna wait for tomorrow's portion, tomorrow. Why? Because that requires something of me a trust, a confidence that God's gonna show up.

Benjamin Kandt: 26:02

Verse six so Moses and Aaron said to all the people at evening you shall know it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord. Because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said, when the Lord gives you in the evening, meet to eat and in the morning, bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling, that you grumble against him. What are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Listen, the principle here is if you're caught in grumbling you'll miss the glory. If you are caught up in grumbling, you will miss the glory. It's like somebody who's buying a jeep suddenly sees jeeps everywhere. Because whatever you value, you attend to, and when you attend to something you become more aware of that thing.

Benjamin Kandt: 26:55

And so, listen, some of us value being victims so much that we interpret everything in light of that reality to make us the victim in the story. Psychologists call this the drama triangle, which is we play the victim role, somebody's the persecutor role, somebody's the rescuer role, and this triangle ruins relationships and it's a constant temptation for us. This is why Jesus says inspect your eyes, Look really closely, because if possession is nine-tenths of the law, perception is nine-tenths of reality. For most of us, how you see the world, whatever your sight is set on, is actually gonna shape how you experience the world. Jesus says beware of that. Do some log inspections or some things, some bitterness, some judgment, some things in your own heart, in your own mind, in your own lives that make you perceive reality askew, not the way that it is, but the way that you see it.

Benjamin Kandt: 27:53

And so, in our victimhood, we can find whoever it is that we can blame around us to be our persecutor. It sets us off, it gets us off from any responsibility, and that's exactly what Israel does to Moses. It says that they grumbled against Moses, and Moses is emphatic. Hey listen, it's not me you got beef with. It's the big guy. It's actually Yahweh the one who led you out here. I'm just his servant, I just do what I'm told.

Benjamin Kandt: 28:21

And so, listen, if we're in a situation where we find ourselves really angry with God for allowing us to be tested like this, that's the only people that can find themselves in that situation are the people that believe in the God of the Bible. Only the God of the Bible is good enough, great enough and wise enough to both allow things to happen in our lives and be totally in control of them, and yet use them meaningfully in our lives. Let me say it like this if there is a God great enough to grumble at for the testing that you're in, then that God also has to be great enough to have purposes for allowing that. That you might not understand. You can't have it both ways. If God is so great you can blame him for the situation that you're in, then he's got to be great enough to have some purposes. Maybe your finite mind doesn't get.

Benjamin Kandt: 29:11

There's an invitation, as we grumble against God, not to emphasize our grumbling but to turn towards the glory of God. That's what the text calls the goodness of God through our testing. God's glory biblically is when his goodness goes public. When his goodness goes public according to the angels in Isaiah 6, who spend a lot more time with God than I do, so I listen to them. I think they're right about this. The angels in Isaiah 6 says that the whole earth is full of God's glory. This is where the perception reality really matters. Do we perceive that For those with eyes to see, every bush can be a burning bush If you see the presence of God lighting up the world with his glory? That's the invitation of this text. Is that we would open our eyes if you remember our call to worship. Open your eyes to the countless ways in which your heavenly Father provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. If he does that, how much more will he provide for you, especially in the time of testing, because God leads us through the wilderness of testing into in order to find freedom in his presence. That's the goal of what he's up to here.

Benjamin Kandt: 30:23

Look at verse 14. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another what is it If you have a Bible with a little little tiny superscript there, a little number? Look at the margin and you'll see that that is this word that sounds kind of like manna. What is it in Hebrew? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. So they name the provision. The provision of God comes and they name it. What is it? Bread from heaven, and they name it. What is it?

Benjamin Kandt: 31:03

Listen, I think what this is is on our own. It's really hard for us to make sense of God's provision in our times of testing. There's few things like pain to make you myopic. This is why we desperately need community. This is why we need people around us. Look at verse 31, a little further down. It says this now, the house of Israel. That's the whole group. The community called its name manna. Now they name it manna.

Benjamin Kandt: 31:31

What I mean by this is we need other people to make meaning out of our suffering, to make meaning out of our testing and our trials. We need that. We don't have enough perspective, your perspective. There's a female Jewish philosopher who said it like this you can't even see the back of your own head, like if that doesn't humble you about what you can know and your perspective on things. You need other people to tell you what the back of your head looks like. Maybe you need other people to tell you what God's up to in your testing. And so, in that way, this is a requirement or an invitation, but it's an invitation to submit to other people's perception of what's going on in our lives, not just anybody. People who know you, who love you, who are for you, can we submit to their perception of what's going on in our lives? Do we even open ourselves to that? Do we invite that? Hey, if I'm off here, let me know, please, my circle.

Benjamin Kandt: 32:24

This past year I was in a season of just. I was just overextended, I was exhausted. There was a few other things going on at once, and one of the brothers in my circle literally said this he's like hey, I wonder if you're in a season of testing. It's all he said and I kid you not, it was from that conversation that made me dibs, this passage, and this was probably in the spring sometime, because he, in that simple comment, it reframed everything about what I was going through in that moment. Oh, god's up to something. He wants to work something in my life.

Benjamin Kandt: 32:56

I knew enough about the biblical promises of testing to know that that was actually probably a good thing, and maybe even the answers of my prayers. God, make me patient, make me humble, make me generous and kind, make me full of faith. Those prayers, seasons of testing, those are his answers. It's the only way he does that in us. And so, listen, we need community. This is why I say God leads us through the wilderness of testing, not you y'all plural, that's who he leads through the wilderness of testing, because we need one another.

Benjamin Kandt: 33:28

I wanna go further on how this provision in testing is communal. Look at verse 17. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less, but when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could.

Benjamin Kandt: 33:49

Some of you this morning hear this, some of you. Your test is that you are called to take the much that you've been given and to give it freely to those who have little. That's the test. This is what happens when you're given. You know what Spider-Man's uncle said with great power comes great responsibility. If you've been given a lot, the test is what will you do with the lot that you've been given? In other words, very literally, if you get a raise, a promotion, I want to see you raise your standard of giving before you raise your standard of living. That's the invitation of this text.

Benjamin Kandt: 34:22

Now, if you're not with me like, this is what I'm saying. God longs for a new city to become more socioeconomically diverse, that the poor could come in and be in our midst and be welcome and belong here, and the rich actually would make sure that their needs are taken care of. That's exactly what I'm talking about Now. Before some of y'all write me off because I know we're conservative theologically in here and we like to blind ourselves to those passages Let me just say I want the whole Bible to come to bear here. Paul literally quotes this text to say what I'm saying right now.

Benjamin Kandt: 34:52

Listen to this in 2 Corinthians 8, 14. It says this your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. Quote as it is written. Then he quotes Exodus 16, 18. Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. If this does something to you, this stirs something up. Read Acts 2, acts 4, acts 6,. Just see how the early church applied this principle of the New Testament for community and worked it out in their midst. It's crazy for a culture how bent on consumerism and consumption For that it's crazy. For the kingdom of God, it's just normal. This is the world, this is the kingdom that we live in and live under.

Benjamin Kandt: 35:37

I was officiating my grandfather's funeral this weekend and I got to say some things about his life. I got to say some things about his legacy. One of the things, two of the things I said, was that he had the hands of a worker. My grandfather was so industrious, he worked so hard, I said. But the reason he had the hands of a worker so that he could express the heart of a giver, one of the most generous men I've ever known To be a grateful recipient of. That is really important.

Benjamin Kandt: 36:06

This text has something to do with your work, has something to do with how you give your hands to work so that you can give your heart to generosity. That's the invitation here. But it has something to say about not only our work but also our rest. Look with me at verse 22. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omars each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them this is what the Lord has commanded.

Benjamin Kandt: 36:31

Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. This is the first occurrence of the word Sabbath in scripture. The principle is so clearly there in Genesis two, but this is the first time the word is used. A holy Sabbath means literally a set apart stop. So that's what those words mean.

Benjamin Kandt: 36:54

And so there are two types of tests. There's summative tests and formative tests. Summative tests are those ones that are like the dreaded midterms and finals and some of the students in here just were like, oh my gosh, please don't say those words. That's a summative test. In other words, a summative test actually tests you on the past and it's designed to disqualify you if you're not ready for the future. But a formative test is like flight training or boot camp it's actually it's to test you for the future and designed to qualify you for what is to come, to make you ready for tomorrow. So that's summative versus formative tests.

Benjamin Kandt: 37:29

Practicing the Sabbath is both. If you have a practice of Sabbath keeping, it's both showing where you put your trust and training you in your trust. Will you believe that God will provide for you, despite your effort and your earning Profoundly difficult when you live in a meritocracy? Will you believe that? And so, in the common rhythm, we have a practice called rest, which is you set aside 24 hour period every single week where you do nothing that you know to be work. That's what we mean by the practice of rest. And so, listen, my invitation is to ask this question Can you gather enough in six days to rest on the seventh? Can you answer enough email? Can you check off enough tasks on your task list? Can you return enough phone calls, work enough spreadsheets, make enough sales, study enough books? Can you do enough in six days in order to rest on the seventh? I'm gonna quote Tim Keller here. It's gonna be on the screen. I only use this quote like once a semester, maybe once a year, because it's straight fire and I don't wanna get singed too often. So this is what he says Anyone who cannot obey God's command to observe the Sabbath is a slave, even a self-imposed one.

Benjamin Kandt: 38:50

Your own heart or our materialistic culture or an exploitative organization or all of the above will be abusing you if you don't have the ability to be disciplined in your practice of Sabbath. Sabbath is therefore a declaration of our freedom. It means you are not a slave, not to your culture's expectations, your family's hopes, your medical school's demands, not even to your own insecurities. It is important that you learn to speak this truth to yourself with a note of triumph. Otherwise you will feel guilty for taking time off or you will be unable to truly unplug. When you practice the Sabbath, you learn to receive it more as a gift than as a duty, as an invitation of God leading you through the wilderness of testing into his freedom, the freedom of his presence on the Sabbath day. Look at verse 29,. It says this See, pay attention, see, behold. The Lord has given you the Sabbath. It's a gift. He's given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Walter Brueggeman, an Old Testament scholar, says it like this Sabbath is an act of trusting resistance to the constant, anxiety-fueling demand to produce more, accomplish more, acquire more. Sabbath is freedom. Brothers and sisters, God will lead us through the wilderness of testing to find freedom in his presence.

Benjamin Kandt: 40:10

I want to close with a text close where we ended, which is the test number three Water from the Rock, chapter 17, verse one. Look with me. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and they camped at Refideen, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said Give us water to drink. And Moses said to them why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? The first two tests were the Lord testing the people. The third one is the people testing the Lord. It's a significant because the fundamental question that they're asking, and the fundamental question that we are all asking whenever we're in a time of testing, is articulated helpfully for us in verse seven. This is the question they tested the Lord by saying Is the Lord among us or not? That's the question. Is he gonna lead us through the wilderness of testing to find freedom in his presence? In other words, is the Lord among us or not? Is he active in our midst or not? Is he bringing power from on high or not? Is his kingdom really a lived reality or not? That's the question we ask in times of testing. And how does Yahweh respond? Verse eight sorry, verse six. Behold, I will stand before you here, before you there, on the rock at Horab, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Benjamin Kandt: 41:49

There's a theologian named Edmund Clowney who has a profound explanation of this text. It's so good. I'm drawing a lot from what he has to say here. You see, because Israel accused God of abandoning them to die in the wilderness. That was the accusation, and they were demanding justice. That's the testing, in other words. For testing could be translated trial. They put God on trial and he was found guilty. But since they can't really get God in the dock, instead they decide we're gonna kill Moses. And you know, as Moses said here in the text that they were trying to stone him. That's important, because this is not mob violence.

Benjamin Kandt: 42:27

This throughout the story of the Old Testament especially stoning was capital punishment for somebody who's been convicted of a capital crime through a judicial process. So what we're seeing here is the people of Israel put God on the dock and found Moses guilty, and they're gonna execute capital punishment for what God has done or failed to do in this situation. They both been found guilty of a capital crime, and so how does God respond? God responds in an unshackable mercy Because, rather than judging his people, god is seen being judged by his people. Look at this. God stands before them and is struck for the failure of his people to hear and obey. Out of love, it says. When he's struck, there will come from the rock that represents God. There will come from the rock rivers of living water for them to drink. They ask the question is the Lord among us or not? And the answer is yes, he is among you, but he's among you in a way that you could never imagine Like.

Benjamin Kandt: 43:37

One of the reasons that this text is so important is it shows us that there God stood upon the rock, not only with them, but also for them in their place, bearing their judgment on their behalf. That's what's happening here, and so in our tests we often look for God in the heavens or in the situation. Where are you in this God? And one of the problems is is we often miss him because he's actually washing our feet. We look too high, not too low. God is a humble God who condescends down to come to our level, to take our condemnation, to receive our accusations and bear them on our behalf. That's what the text is saying here and in 1 Corinthians 10, verse four, paul just explicitly says it the rock was Christ. He says that. Go read it, find out what that means for your hermeneutics. The rock was Christ.

Benjamin Kandt: 44:31

In other words, jesus is God for us, god in our place. Jesus is for us because he delivered us. He delivered his people not from political slavery in Egypt, but from spiritual slavery under death and sin and the devil. For us, jesus came as the Lord, our healer. For us, jesus manifested himself in miraculous ways, providing bread for the hungry. For us, jesus was tested by religious people. Quote show us a sign that we might believe in you. For us, jesus was placed on trial. For us, jesus stood accused before the people of Israel, and even though the people sentenced Jesus, ultimately God was issuing the verdict of guilty on himself. For us, jesus was punished for the sins of the people Instead of being struck with a rod, he was stabbed with a spear. For us, jesus made life-giving water flow from the place of judgment, his very side.

Benjamin Kandt: 45:36

And so this morning, wherever you are, whoever you are, if you wonder is the Lord among us or not, look to Jesus. Jesus is among us, so that we can find freedom in his presence. Let's pray, jesus. We look to you. Now. You are the rock. I'm inviting Holy Spirit. Come and be among us. Satisfy our thirsts with the living waters that come from you and you alone, jesus. Give us faith in the time of testing. We pray as you taught us to pray. Deliver us from testing, deliver us from temptation, deliver us from evil. Lead us not into temptation or testing. That's what we're asking for now. We pray these things in your name, jesus, amen.