The people are constantly grumbling. They are grumbling because things are not like they used to be. They are grumbling because they are fearful of the future. They are grumbling because they do not trust the LORD to deliver even though he has delivered them before.
Today people are complaining and griping. Complaining that the leaders don’t care about them. That life is not the way it used to be. Grumbling that the leaders mean to hurt or kill them. Complaining that they don’t have what they need. These days there is so much complaining because they lack faith in the God of the Bible.
So too, Moses faced the same grumbling with the people led out of Egypt. They complained about the lack of food and water. They said they would rather be slaves again with bowls of cucumber salad than the free people of God. They doubted God. They murmured that Moses led them out of Egypt, out through the desert, just so he could starve them all to death. They feared their situation. They despised the Lord.
“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! (Exod 16:3).
Into the chaos Moses prays on their behalf. The Lord gives them an abundance of manna and quail.
Then they complain about a lack of water. They quarreled with Moses and grumbled against the LORD. Again, they do not trust the LORD to provided for them. Even more they say the LORD is a malevolent God. They say that God is evil who desires to kill them.
“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” (Exod 17:3).
These days there are many people who say the God of the Bible is an evil being. They do not trust God. They despise God’s servants just as the Israelites despised Moses. They despised Moses so much they were ready to stone him.
With Moses, we servants of the Most High God cry out, “What are we to do?” What are we to do to bring faith instead of fear, to bring peace instead of discord?
The LORD instructs Moses to go over to the rock at Horeb and strike the rock. Moses walks and acts in faith. When he strikes the rock water flows out.
Many years later the Prophet Isaiah wrote:
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and water gushed out. (Isa 48:21).
As we face uncertain times, we Christ followers are being pressed:
“Is the LORD among us or not?” (Exod 17:7).
As Christ followers we know that the Spiritual Water flows out of the Rock, the stone, that was rejected. Christ the living stone is the source of a new life. A life that blesses and fills us even in the midst of challenges.
Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14).
As the Church, God’s people, we have no reason to grumble.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (Revelation 22:17).
We have hope. We have the Christ Jesus, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him” (1 Pet 2:4). We have the living stone who pours the water of abundant life into us.
Yes, we know the Lord is among us.
American Worldview Inventory 2020 from The Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University
Out of the Kiddie Pool 
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