In Exodus 12 the children of Israel celebrated the Passover; in chapter 14 they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground; in chapter 16 they got manna and quail but in chapter 17 they ran out of water and blamed their leader Moses and, “put the LORD to the test.” Therefore, Moses, “cried (sa-aq)  unto the LORD saying, What shall I do unto this people? They are almost ready to stone me?” The LORD told him to take his rod and the elders and go before the people. When it seems like everything and everyone is against you and they are ready to stone you, ‘PRAY!’ Take the ‘Rod of God,’ His Book, and His leaders and just stand before His people and watch Him do His work!

Exodus 17:6 says, “Behold, (Hinneh – particle of interjection) I (YeHoVaH) will stand before you, there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” The ‘Rock’ was a type of life through the Holy Spirit by grace; Christ is the ‘Rock’ or ‘Stone’ smitten that the Spirit of life might flow from Him to all who would freely drink, v.6; I Cor. 10:1-4, esp. v.4 which says, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”

The children of Israel were totally unworthy v.2, for they strove with Moses and put the LORD God to the test. In fact Moses named the place “Massah Meribah” (Trials and Contentions) v.7, because of the striving and the testing of the LORD. In fact they even said, “Is the LORD among us or not?” But you and I have never said or felt like that, right? The characteristics of grace are seen in this passage and are; that it is free, Eph. 2:8; abundant, Rom. 5:20; & Ps. 105:41; near, Rom. 10:8; and all the people had to do was to take and drink of it freely, Isa. 55:1, “Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

When you are confronted by a crowd, by a congregation, by a board or a by group and they are striving with you and putting the LORD to the test: The first thing you need to do is ‘PRAY,’ to cry out to God for help. The word Moses used was (sa-aq) to shout, call out, call for help, muster, summon, a cry of distress or desperation, or to raise a cry of wailing. I get the idea that Moses was “DESPERATE!” Do you get that feeling too? This is probably from v.4 where he tells God, “They are almost ready to stone me!” That meant they probably already were picking up some rocks. So (sa-aq) is a cry or prayer of desperation or distress, an ‘S-O-S’ kind of prayer. This is when you need to pray for wisdom, direction, guidance and protection. You need to take the ‘Rod of God’ in your hand and your godly leaders by the hand and stand before your people on the Rock, Jesus Christ and allow Him to lead you and speak through you. There is a time to talk and there is a time to walk and I am speaking from many years of experience. There is also a time to smite the Rock as Moses did here in Exodus 17:6 in Horeb at the beginning of his ministry and a time to speak to the Rock as he did in Numbers 20:11 at Meribah-Kadesh near the end of his ministry just after Miriam died. However, instead in his anger he struck the rock twice and lost his chance to enter the ‘Promised Land.’

A lot happened in Numbers 20 at Kadesh, Miriam dies and there is no water and the people complain again. It is after 38 years of wandering through the wilderness and most of the original group is dead and only their children are living now. Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before the tabernacle of God and the glory of the LORD appears in v.6 and the LORD tells them to take the rod, gather the assembly and speak to the Rock before their eyes this time and it will give forth water for the people and their beasts, v.8. However, Moses takes credit for this miracle, v.10, “must we fetch you water out of this rock?” Then he strikes the rock twice instead of speaking to it in v.11. He also called the people “rebels” v.10. He also did not believe in, nor trust the power of God, v.12, “because you believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel.” He also failed to glorify God before the nation of Israel and he rebelled against God, v.24, and for this Aaron also died, v.26.

You see the problem with, “The Prayer of Distress” is if you are not careful after your tsunami, you seem to get a big head and think you can do it all by yourself next time and forget that God shares His glory with no one. Not with Moses, David, Paul, Daniel, Aaron and especially not with you and me! Exodus 34:14 says, “For thou shalt worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” In fact Isa. 48:11 says, “And I will not give My glory unto another.” Use, “The Prayer of Distress” but don’t abuse it and whatever you do, don’t let it go to your head and remember, Ps. 65:2 says, “O Thou who hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.” God is a prayer hearing, prayer answering, prayer caring, prayer listening, GOD! In fact Jesus, God the Son, the second person of the Tri-unity, ever lives to make intercession for us right now, Heb. 7:25. “And the Spirit Himself (The Holy Spirit) makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Rom. 8:26. That’s the second person of the Tri-unity, WOW!  There’s a lot of prayer going up before His throne for us constantly. Till we meet again, see you– “…Between The Lines…” 

“The Prayer of Distress” – ‘Exodus 17:4-7’ 2/10/13