Exodus Chapter 17 Verses 1 – 2

• Notice that the people did exactly what the Lord commanded them to do…they were completely in the will and word of God (that’s what that word means, the word for “command,” (“peh”), and yet they found themselves in a place of difficulty and need. It is possible and truly it is prevalent that you/someone can be completely within the will of God yet also in a place of hardship. 
• Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you (given to you), that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have health, wealth and prosperity….wrong…in the world you will have trouble; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Just think for a moment on the life and lifestyle of Jesus. 
• Jesus was born into poverty. Even as an adult He commented in Matthew 8:20, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  The Lord was mocked by the wise.  Rejected by the leaders.  Hungry often, tired regularly.  He wept bitterly at the loss of a friend.  He was beaten to an almost unrecognizable state.  Stripped of all dignity and executed on a traitor’s cross.  And yet His entire life, every second of His life, perfectly within the will and command of God the Father.
• Jesus said in John 6:19, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do…” And so if you are suffering tonight, thirsty, there’s no water and you’ve been traveling, following the Lord…but you’re in a difficult season or place or situation, don’t receive the condemnation of the enemy and don’t fall prey to the flesh!  Trust in God still!  Psalm 34:17-19 (flies in the face of the prosperity false gospel)!
• Now, here we get a glimpse perhaps of Moses’ frustration…the people are thirsty…and yes they are complaining…but they are thirsty. All that we have recorded is somewhat of a rigid and course response from Moses.  It may not have been his entire response but it’s all we have so I will comment on it.  Remember, when people are complaining or being stupid, remember…there is an element of thirst there.  It is a true sin, a painful grievance, for one that claims to know and follow Christ to respond with severity and hardness of heart.  Truly that is a savage indecency in the eyes of the Lord.  We ought to be kind…not react but rather wait, ask the Lord what is His command…

Exodus Chapter 17 Verse 3

• Now, I do want to comment on the fact that Moses was justified in his frustration…the people have a real problem but they handle it very poorly. And frankly I see this all the time.  Rather than help, they blame.  Rather than pray, they complain.  They’re in the desert, of course water is going to be a problem.  Did Moses dry up the land?  Of course not!  And yet he bears the blame.  Who is truly to blame?  God!  He is the one leading them.  They should have, could have…sought the Lord…but it’s easier to blame others, deflect any responsibility, then to go to the Lord…why?  Because going to the Lord requires faith.   I’ll say it this way…deflecting accountability is a clear reveal of the state of a person’s faith.

Exodus Chapter 17 Verse 4

• The fact that there was no water was not the fault of Moses…but notice what he does…he takes responsibility for it and cries out to the Lord. Notice his prayer, “What shall I do?”  Not, “God show them this isn’t my problem!”  I believe when we become the bigger person, take responsibility for those around us, accept accountability certainly for things we ought to but even for things that are not our fault or outside of our control, I believe it is then that God will answer and move immediately on our behalf.

Exodus Chapter 17 Verses 5 – 7

• Let’s talk In 1992 a team of hikers came across something that stunned them in the land of Horeb.  They had hiked this area before but had never taken this specific route.  They began to notice that the valley floor was not comprised of the same crushed granite they had been accustomed to seeing but was that of a smooth granite, almost washed.  The valley stretched on for about 2 miles and dotted all throughout its length were what must literally be described as huge hills comprised of bare rounded granite rocks…they followed the valley and finally came upon a fifty-foot rock where the smooth stones stopped.
• (Pictures) There is a wonderful beacon there still today. A massive rock, split right down the center with evidence of water flow!  So very cool!  Now, even cooler, this rock is a direct pointer, a type of Jesus!  Jesus is Freedom.  He is the Bread of life that has come down from heaven.  And He is water for those who thirst.  1 Corinthians 10:1-4.  Also, Jesus stood on the great day of the feast there in Jerusalem, in John 7:37-38 and proclaimed, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water!”
• Now, water doesn’t come out of rocks. In fact, that’s just about the opposite place we would naturally turn to in order to find water.  But supernaturally it is to where we have been called.  To seek the Lord, look to Him, trust Him, go to Him, get from Him what we need for our lives…  Now Moses ends up here again, in Numbers 20 and this time God tells him to speak to the rock but instead, in rage and frustration, he strikes the rock again…and because of it, Moses will die in the wilderness.  Why?  Because the rock had already been struck.  Jesus was crucified, He was struck…and now its over…now we are to go to Him, be near to Him, those that seek to pay continually for their sins or earn their own salvation…there will be no promised land for them…the Rock is to be struck once and that’s it…

Exodus Chapter 17 Verses 8 – 10

• Amalek will be a continual evil upon the people of God. They were decedents of Esau and they were an especially evil people.  The attack comes without provocation and it comes with particular cruelty.  Deuteronomy 25:17-18 gives us the details.  The Amalekites not courageous enough to attack the front of the nation, went around and took out the weak, the young, the old, the weary…The Amalekites were a real people but they would become a picture of the flesh in the scriptures.  God would later give a command for them to be completely conquered by Saul, the first king of Israel, for what they had done in the wilderness…
• But Saul did not…He let their king live (Agag)…as some sort of trophy…and perhaps you remember what happened…Saul was killed by an Amalekite. It is a clear warning regarding our own flesh.  What in you and what in me is inherently cruel…cowardice and strategically evil…kill it man…or it will kill you.
• So the nation enters into its first battle in the wilderness…and Joshua is identified as the lead of the army of Israel…

Exodus Chapter 17 Verse 11

• That is an interesting picture of prayer. The battles we fight…the cause and cure are spiritual…fight them well…

Exodus Chapter 17 Verses 12 – 13

• Often, the work that God has given each of us to do, is too much for us to do on our own. And notice how this was won…with fierce battle…practical, physical, resourceful…but also and ultimately because of prayer.  To win the battle without prayer will lead you to a more difficult battle.  Because you will win the fist fight and lose the spiritual war.  It’s a key strategy of the enemy.

Exodus Chapter 17 Verses 14 – 16

• Amalek, a picture and type of the flesh. A parallel and illustration of the sinful nature of man…the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.  Where are they today?  You see God was not talking only about the evil nation at the time but about the ultimate war until the end of the age truly between good and evil.  The war that met its turning point at the cross of Christ.  Where Jesus was placed upon the rock of Calvary and held out His hands until the battle was won.