SERMON TITLE: God Rocks: God Refreshes Us from Stones SERMON TEXT: Exodus 17:1-7 PREACHER: Rev. Kim James OCCASION: May 3, 2015, at First UMC INTRODUCTION In Monday s Standard Examiner, there was an article about Ogden s historic artesian wells. Did you see the old photo of the two men with a geyser of water spraying up between them? The article indicated that, about 10 miles... up the Ogden Canyon, there s an area that used to be known as Artesian Well Park. In that park, 43 natural wells surged from 150-feet below the surface, allowing water to be piped into Ogden at a rate of 16 million gallons of water per day. The water came from an aquifer, which is a water-bearing layer of porous rock that serves as a filter, making the water clean. We don t hear or think so much about those artesian wells today because the Pineview Reservoir covers over those places where the water would push through porous or cracked rocks by the force of natural pressure alone. 1 That newspaper story got me to doing a little internet research, and I found another article that helped me understand just how pervasive these springs are on the Wasatch Front. There s a place in North Ogden called The Stump where people get fresh water that is pushed up from the ground. Further south, on 27 th Street, there s a water source called Kristin Spring. In Farmington, Centerville, and Salt Lake City, there are more of those places where naturally pressurized water breaks through a fissure in the rock, bringing refreshment to this second-most-arid state in our country. I m sure you ve already figured out why I m telling you this. Ever since Easter, when God moved the stone from the entrance to Jesus tomb, we ve been proclaiming that God rocks. Through various biblical stories, we ve been reminded that God protects us from stones, God creates dreams from stones, and God gives us victory with stones. Today, in the last sermon of this series, I invite you to consider this story from Exodus 17 about how God refreshes us from stones.
2 1 GOD PROVIDES WHAT WE NEED The early chapters of the Book of Exodus tell us that God sent Moses to free the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery. After they crossed the Red Sea, Moses led them into the Sinai Peninsula, where they wandered in the desert wilderness for 40 years. Exodus 16 tells how the people complained to Moses that they were hungry, and God provided them manna, or bread from heaven. Then, in Exodus 17, the people were suffering again and needed God s help. This time, the problem was thirst. If they didn t get water soon, both they and their livestock would die of dehydration. The people were so distraught and demanding that Moses was afraid they might kill him. With no small amount of miraculous irony, God took Moses fear of being stoned to death, and told him to go and strike the rock at Horeb, so that water could come out for the people to drink. When Moses did so, he, the elders of Israel, and all the people were then able to see that God refreshes us from stones. The most basic meaning of this is, of course, that God provides what we need. Even when the ground is dry and rocky, God has resources. Even when it seems inconceivable to us, God has possibilities we don t even know exist. This Exodus 17 story is told again in the book of Numbers, chapter 20. There, when the people complain to Moses, he retorts, Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock? (v. 10). If we read that question with a certain inflection, we can hear Moses irritation and frustration maybe not so much at them for their reasonable need and demand, but at the seeming impossibility of their situation. When I was a kid, my brothers and I would sometimes ask for something my parents couldn t afford. My dad would then say, What?! Do you think money grows on trees?! Similarly, we can hear Moses saying, So, you re thirsty. So am I. What do you expect me to do about it? Make water come out of this rock?! It seemed like a crazy idea. Who could have imagined it? And yet, when Moses struck the stone, God provided what the people needed.
3 Are you familiar with the book or movie Holes? Because my kids and I really liked that story, I ve seen the movie dozens of times. In that story, a teenage boy named Stanley is falsely accused of stealing a pair of shoes and ends up in a juvenile detention facility out in a desert. At Camp Greenlake, the boys are required to dig deep holes in the dried-up lakebed. The camp counselors tell them that the boys are digging holes to develop character, but the detention camp managers have other, devious motives. They re actually crooks, and finally Stanley and one of the other boys escape their evil grip. Desperate for water, Stanley remembers an old story his family had passed down about water on the top of God s thumb. Stanley and his friend then notice that one of the rock formations sticking up in the desert is shaped like a giant thumb. With great difficulty, the boys climb their way to the top of the rock and find there a spring of water that saves their lives. God s Thumb provides the refreshment the boys need. As wonderful as it sounds to say that God provides what we need, every one of us can think of exceptions to that statement of faith. With more than 7000 dead in last week s Nepalese earthquake, we can certainly protest that God didn t provide them the physical safety they needed to stay alive and healthy. No matter where or how we live, it s a fact that eventually death will come knocking on our door. Poor and rich alike inevitably reach a point where God doesn t provide enough resources for our life to continue on this earth any longer. But, for as long as we are able to sustain breath, heartbeat, and brain waves, who else but God can provide what we need? Who else but God sends in the rescue crews and the relief aid? The symbols remind us that the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations were both founded by religiously-minded people. Even today s most secular relief organizations are empowered by values, skills, strength, and refreshment that come from God. 2 WHEN WE DO OUR PART God truly does refresh us from stones by providing what we need. But we have a role to play in this story too. You may have noticed that the Hebrew people became pretty clear and quite vocal about
4 their need. We could classify them as quarrelsome rebels, intent on causing trouble for Moses and sinfully doubtful of God s care for them. Or, alternatively, we could recognize the legitimacy of their suffering and need. We can hear their complaint as an understandable plea for help. And we can certainly see that Moses cried out to God for assistance with this problem. One of the ways we do our part to receive refreshment from stones is to clearly state our concern and seek a response from God. Money may not grow on trees and water may not come from stones very often, but those things are a lot more likely to happen if we can clearly and persuasively articulate what we need. I m not saying that the only time God helps us is when we have flowery speech. No, scripture tells us that God hears the cries and sighs of our hearts that are too deep for words. Maybe we don t even know what we need, or maybe we ask for the completely wrong thing, and God helps us in better, healthier ways instead. Certainly God can and does do that. But I think it is more likely that we will get refreshment if we take the time to figure out what we actually want and need. Being clear about who we are, developing some goals, having a vision, planning for the future, knowing what it will take to get us there, and being willing to apply some elbow grease certainly can t hurt. You ve heard the saying that God helps those who help themselves. That saying can be misused by people who are too quick to dismiss the pain and suffering of others. But, basically, it s true that we must do our part to cooperate with God s efforts. If the desires of our hearts are in line with God s will, then maybe water can come from rocks. If we and God are on the same page, then refreshment is a lot more likely to happen. It s entirely possible that God could and did miraculously use Moses strike on a rock to tap a source of water. But another idea also occurs to me. One of the Bible commentaries I read pointed out that God s instruction for Moses to strike the rock was reminiscent of what happened in Exodus chapter 7. There, God and Moses were inflicting the first of 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, so that the Pharaoh would let God s people go. In that first plague, Moses used his staff to strike the Nile River and turn the
5 water to blood. Because the water was contaminated, the Egyptians no longer could just scoop water out of the river. To get clean water, they were forced, instead, to dig in the ground beside the Nile. So, in Exodus 17, when the people were nearly going to die from thirst, maybe they needed to be reminded that they could dig just a little and uncover some clean, pure, artesian water that would bubble through the rocks. Just because the surface looks dry doesn t mean there isn t water close by. Most times in life, God provides the resources, but we have to do some cooperative work to get at them. We have to do our part so that God can refresh us from stones. CONCLUSION This week, as I was thinking about water that came from the rock, a song came to mind that the Praise Band sometimes sings at the 6:00 service. The lyrics go like this: All who are thirsty All who are weak Come to the fountain Dip your heart in the stream of life Let the pain and the sorrow Be washed away In the waves of his mercy As deep cries out to deep: Come, Lord Jesus, come. Come, Lord Jesus, come. 2 In Exodus 17, the Hebrew people cried out from the depths of their souls to the deep aquifer of God s refreshing water. They, their children, and their livestock were suffering. Unless help would come quickly, it would be hard to imagine a positive future. They needed to know that God was there with them and cared about their problems. Today, we too are weak from thirst. When we ve cried until we have no tears left and our spirits are parched, it s reassuring to remember that God refreshes us-- even from stones. 1 Carmen Lopez, Monday Memories: Ogden s artesian wells, April 27, 2015, 2A. 2 Benton Brown, 1998.