Exodus 17:2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD
Perhaps you have noticed the proliferation of what I call “Hallmark Holidays.” A holiday is a day that is supposed to be special, set apart, or significant. It is not merely a day in which we are partying. It may be with festivity, but it is a day of significance nonetheless. So, when I say “Hallmark Holidays,” I am talking about the fact there is a day for everything. There is Donut Day, Cookie Day, Grandma Day, Grandpa Day. I am not saying these are all necessarily bad. I will say that if every day is special, then no day is special.
Think about the first of the summer, June 6. June 6 is a day when we remember D-Day, the taking back of Europe in World War II. It was much more than that, but that is a day where thousands sacrificed for the freedom we take for granted now. I think about June 18. That was Father’s Day. That is a day worth celebrating and recognizing. June 21 is the birthday of a person very dear to me indeed. Of course, there are other dates in June, but my point is that these are all special days.
When you think of the diaspora or scattering of the Jewish nation all over the globe and for centuries being a nation without a country, I think it can be well argued that one of the things that has kept them together as a nation is what they celebrate, the things they recognize. You are not even a nation if you can’t even agree on what to celebrate. When you get to the book of Exodus, you realize the importance of the celebration of significant days.
For instance, in Exodus 17:14 it says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.” Joshua, the next leader of Israel was to be encouraged by God’s dealings with Israel in the past in the days of Moses. In Exodus 13:14 it says, “And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt.” He is talking here about a sign, a memorial, an ordinance. These were special days that were to be commemorated to remind Israel of what mattered in their lives.
Exodus 15:1 says, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord.” What follows has been called the oldest poem in the world. This poem was to be sung and rehearsed to remember what God had done. In Exodus 16:32 Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omar of it [manna] to be kept for your generations.” It was to let people remember the time when God brought them forth out of bondage from the land of Egypt.
The point is that celebration is very important, and your future hinges on what you choose to remember. If you have no memory, then you have no future. Your future hinges on what you choose to remember. What should you remember? Let me give you three things.
First, remember who is in charge. In Exodus 17, Israel was complaining against Moses. They chided with Moses because they had no water to drink. Verse 2 says, “Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?” So, remember who is in charge. God is the one who is in charge. God brought them out of Egypt; Moses did not. God brought them out of Egypt; Pharaoh didn’t let them go. God says in Exodus 14:4, “I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” That is a refrain you find numerous times in subsequent verses. Pharaoh wasn’t in charge. His gods were not in charge. In fact, the plagues were specific attacks on those gods. Remember who is in charge.
Second, remember who allowed the need. Exodus 17:3 says, “And the people thirsted there for water…and murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” “Why did you do this?” they were saying.
Well, Moses hadn’t done this. God was in charge and He is the one who allowed their need. In Deuteronomy 8:3 Moses recounted God meeting Israel’s need. He said, “He [God] humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna…that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” So, God allowed the need so He could provide what only He could provide. So, remember who allows needs. If you do that, it gives perspective on what happens in your life.
Finally, remember who meets the need. The one who allows the need, God, is the one who meets the need. In Psalm 114 the Bible talks about Israel coming out of Egypt. Speaking of this the psalmist said, “The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.” He is personifying natural creations that shudder at the power of God.
Then he asks this question, “What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord.” So, who meets the need? God does. In Psalm 114 Israel is encouraged to look back and remember their history and say, “That was God.” How much of your life can you look at in retrospect and recognize, whether it was a good or bad day, that it was the hand of God?
Your future hinges on what you choose to remember, and ultimately it is not a what that you remember, it is a who.