To Trust or Not to Trust
Exodus 17:1-7
by Rev. Randy L Quinn

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?" So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." The LORD said to Moses, "Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
Ex. 17:1-7

Some of you know that during Lent this year one of the spiritual disciplines I am practicing is a form of fasting. I am not eating sugar and I am not drinking caffeine. I know others who participate in this annual tradition with similar Lenten disciplines. But for me it is more than an annual ritual. It’s a fast.

Each year I choose to “give up” something that I know I will miss to remind me of my false dependence upon things, things that I often substitute for my dependence upon God. As I said when I first announced my plans this year – during our Ash Wednesday service – I am fasting to remind me to trust God to meet my needs.

And as much as I miss my daily cup of coffee and my snack foods, I’m learning that I can live without them – but I can’t live without God.

Years ago, I was attending a safety class for airplane pilots when the instructor gave us a check list of emergency equipment and provisions. He prefaced his remarks by asking us a couple of questions. Let me ask you those same questions.
How long do you think you can live without food? (Jesus fasted for 40 days. We could probably live several weeks.)
How long do you think you can live without water? (I’m not sure we could live more than a few days.)
How long do you think you can live without air? (Not more than a few minutes!)
How long can you live without protection from the weather? (That depends upon the weather – from a few hours to a few days.)

When he finished, the instructor went on to talk about the kinds of things we might want to have on hand to provide for our most basic needs. But he insisted we begin with the time constraints as our means of prioritizing. Cooking utensils could wait, for example. Water could not.

I left that event with a mental list that isn’t exactly accurate, but it is close enough (and way easier to remember):

I might live 7 weeks without food.
I might live 7 days without water.
I might live 7 hours without shelter.
I might live 7 minutes without air.
But I won’t live 7 seconds without God.

Moses leads the people of Israel away from food and water; he leads them away from the only place they have ever known. Now, it was miserable being slaves in Egypt, but they were beginning to think it was better to live as slaves than to go where ever Moses was leading them. This was an arid place, a desert; and they were without water. In my mental list, they were only a week away from death.

In Egypt, they reminded him, water had been plentiful. The Nile River was recognized as the source of life. What was Moses thinking?!

What was he thinking? He was thinking: we’re trading our lives as slaves in a foreign land, for a new life in the land of promise where we will be God’s people. But in order for that to happen, we must learn to trust God to meet our needs.

So, how do you learn trust?

Years ago the Kingston Trio sang a ballad about “Desert Pete.” Does anyone remember that song?

I can’t honestly say I remember it. But I came across the song this week when I was trying to find the source of a story I had heard years ago. Turns out the story was based on the ballad!

The story is about a man crossing the desert who comes upon an old rusty pump. Attached to the pump is a note, signed by “Desert Pete.”

Desert Pete tells the man that the pump works, it just needs to be primed. (Not the best news to someone in the desert who is thirsty, I suspect. Nothing like standing in front of a pump that works, but you need water to make it work – especially when the only thing you want is water!)

The note goes on to tell the man where to find water to prime it – and a caution not to drink any because he’ll need to pour all of it down the pump in order to make it work. On the lid of the water jar is a reminder not to drink the water, and a request to fill the jar with water for the next person to use.

(Imagine that dilemma for a moment. He’s thirsty. It’s a desert. And he finds water. Should he drink it or pour it down a well and trust the note by some unknown person called Desert Pete?)

It might be easy for us to say trust the note – because we’re not thirsty. Not only that, we live in a place where water is easy to find. We don’t live in a desert.

The dilemma of Desert Pete is really no different than the dilemma facing the people of Israel. In whom do you trust? Are you willing to trust God to provide for your needs? What are you willing to risk in order to find out how God can meet your needs?

During Lent, we’ve been exploring stories and situations where people have made trades, whether it was trading away paradise in the Garden of Eden for personal gratification or trading away the comforts of a familiar home for the promise of a vast new land. Today’s trade has to do with trusting God to provide our needs rather than clinging to our wants.

The people want to go home. The people want to see the lush vegetation of the river valley. The people want to return to the way things were. But God has provided a better place for them. They are not there yet, but along the way they will learn to rely upon God for their needs, not their wants.

Perhaps we can begin to learn the same thing. You see, in many ways we are no different than the people who were complaining to Moses. When things don’t go our way, we complain. When we are asked to try something new, we complain. We even complain when the weather changes!

Most of us like things the way they are. We don’t like change. But I believe we’ll never learn to trust God if we don’t step out and try something new.

Call to Discipleship:

To help us learn to trust God with our needs rather than our wants, I’m inviting you to consider getting out of your comfort zones. I’m asking you to take a risk and do something you’ve never done before or may be afraid to do. I have several options for you to explore.

The first option is to participate in a Mission Trip. We are planning a mission trip to Florida with our youth this summer; next winter we hope to have a team go to Honduras. In addition, I have a few places where you can go on your own and participate in a mission program in another setting.

The second option is to participate in a Small Group. I know many of you are already involved in small groups. But many of you are not. As we head into the summer, I want to encourage you to try one.

I’ll pass around clipboards – I even have a set for the choir.  On them are Mission Trip sign-up sheets and small group sign-up sheets. Put your name in as many places as you’d like.

And don’t use the excuse that you are too old or too young to participate in a mission trip. Remember Abram and Sarai were in their 70’s when they left Haran; and Samuel was a young boy when he began to serve God. Prayerfully consider where God may want you to go; prayerfully ask what will help you learn how to trust God.

We will leave the sign-up sheets out for the next few weeks if you want to pray about it before making a commitment, but don’t use that as an excuse to not make a commitment.

These are opportunities for us to learn the difference between our needs and our wants. It’s an opportunity to prove that God will always meet our needs.

Thanks be to God. Amen.