1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,500
Welcome to the Lightly Salted Podcast.

2
00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:08,500
These are the readings and sermons of St. John's Lutheran Church of Park Rapids, Minnesota.

3
00:00:08,500 --> 00:00:16,000
They are offered so that the Word of God would shape and strengthen you to be what He calls you to be, salt and light.

4
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,500
You can find us at stjohnspr.org.

5
00:00:19,500 --> 00:00:22,500
Now, on to the Word.

6
00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:29,500
The Old Testament reading is from the 17th chapter of Exodus, the first seven verses.

7
00:00:29,500 --> 00:00:37,500
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages,

8
00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:46,000
according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Refidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

9
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,500
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said,

10
00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:52,000
Give us water to drink.

11
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,500
And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me?

12
00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:58,500
Why do you test the Lord?

13
00:00:58,500 --> 00:01:04,500
But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said,

14
00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:11,000
Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

15
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,500
So Moses cried to the Lord, What shall I do with this people?

16
00:01:15,500 --> 00:01:18,000
They are almost ready to stone me.

17
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,000
And the Lord said to Moses, Pass on before the people,

18
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,000
Taking with you some of the elders of Israel,

19
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:31,000
And take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

20
00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,500
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horab,

21
00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:43,000
And you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.

22
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:47,000
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

23
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,000
And he called the name of the place Masah and Maraba

24
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000
because of the quarreling of the people of Israel,

25
00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:00,500
and because they tested the Lord by saying, Is the Lord among us or not?

26
00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:03,000
This is the word of the Lord.

27
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,500
Thanks be to God.

28
00:02:05,500 --> 00:02:12,000
The epistle is from the fifth chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans, beginning with verse 1.

29
00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:17,000
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,

30
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,000
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

31
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:29,000
Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand,

32
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000
And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

33
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,500
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings.

34
00:02:36,500 --> 00:02:39,000
Knowing that suffering produces endurance,

35
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:42,000
And endurance produces character,

36
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000
And character produces hope,

37
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,000
And hope does not put us to shame,

38
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:53,000
Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

39
00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:59,000
For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

40
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:03,000
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person,

41
00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000
Though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.

42
00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:12,000
But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners,

43
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,000
Christ died for us.

44
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000
This is the word of the Lord.

45
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,000
Thanks be to God.

46
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,000
We stand in respect of Christ, of whom the Holy Gospel is read.

47
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,000
The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the fourth chapter.

48
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:35,000
Glory to you, O Lord.

49
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,000
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,

50
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,000
Near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

51
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,000
Jacob's well was there.

52
00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:50,000
So Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.

53
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000
It was about the sixth hour.

54
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,000
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water.

55
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,000
Jesus said to her,

56
00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000
Give me a drink,

57
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,000
For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

58
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,000
The Samaritan woman said to him,

59
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000
How is it that you, a Jew,

60
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,000
Ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?

61
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000
For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

62
00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000
Jesus answered her,

63
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,000
If you knew the gift of God,

64
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000
And who it is that is saying to you,

65
00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,000
Give me a drink,

66
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,000
You would have asked him,

67
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,000
And he would have given you living water.

68
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000
The woman said to him,

69
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000
Sir, you have nothing to draw water with,

70
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000
And the well is deep.

71
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,000
Where do you get that living water?

72
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000
Are you greater than our father Jacob?

73
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,000
He gave us the well and drank from it himself,

74
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000
As did his sons and his livestock.

75
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000
Jesus said to her,

76
00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000
Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.

77
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him

78
00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,000
Will never be thirsty forever.

79
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,000
The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water,

80
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000
Welling up to eternal life.

81
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000
The woman said to him,

82
00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,000
Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty,

83
00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,000
Or have to come here to draw water.

84
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000
Jesus said to her,

85
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000
Go, call your husband and come here.

86
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,000
The woman answered him,

87
00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,000
I have no husband.

88
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000
Jesus said to her,

89
00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:21,000
You are right in saying I have no husband,

90
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,000
For you have had five husbands,

91
00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,000
And the one you now have is not your husband.

92
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,000
What you have said is true.

93
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,000
The woman said to him,

94
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:33,000
Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

95
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,000
Our fathers worshipped on this mountain,

96
00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,000
But you say that in Jerusalem

97
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,000
Is the place where people ought to worship.

98
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000
Jesus said to her,

99
00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000
Woman, believe me,

100
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,000
The hour is coming when either on this mountain

101
00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,000
Or in Jerusalem will you worship the Father?

102
00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,000
You worship what you do not know.

103
00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,000
We worship what we know,

104
00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,000
For salvation is from the Jews.

105
00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,000
But the hour is coming and is now here.

106
00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,000
True worshipers will worship the Father

107
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,000
In spirit and truth,

108
00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,000
For the Father is seeking such people

109
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,000
To worship Him.

110
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000
God is spirit,

111
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,000
And those who worship Him must worship

112
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,000
In spirit and truth.

113
00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,000
The woman said to him,

114
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000
I know that Messiah is coming,

115
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000
He who is called Christ.

116
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,000
When He comes, He will tell us all things.

117
00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000
Jesus said to her,

118
00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000
I who speak to you, am He.

119
00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,000
This is the gospel of the Lord.

120
00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:32,000
Praise to you, O Christ.

121
00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,000
Grace to you in peace from God our Father

122
00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000
And from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.

123
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,000
Amen.

124
00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:41,000
Please be seated.

125
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,000
I had mentioned a number of weeks ago

126
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,000
The show 1883.

127
00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,000
And we talked about it in Bible class that day,

128
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,000
And I thought I had it out of my system.

129
00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,000
But I don't quite have it out of my system.

130
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000
One of the things that I really appreciated in the show

131
00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,000
Was they did voiceovers.

132
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,000
And as you listen to the voiceovers,

133
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,000
You come to understand that they are foreshadowing

134
00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,000
What's coming up in the story.

135
00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000
My favorite voiceover was this one.

136
00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,000
I think cities have weakened us as a species.

137
00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,000
Mistakes have no consequences there.

138
00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,000
Step into the road without looking

139
00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,000
And the carriage merely stops or swerves.

140
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000
The only consequence, an angry driver.

141
00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000
But here, the vast wilderness.

142
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,000
But here there can be no mistakes.

143
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,000
Because here doesn't care.

144
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,000
The river doesn't care if you can swim.

145
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,000
The snake doesn't care how much you love your children.

146
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,000
And the wolf has no interest in your dreams.

147
00:07:55,000 --> 00:08:00,000
If you fail to beat the current, you will drown.

148
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:05,000
If you get too close, you will be bitten.

149
00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:14,000
If you are too weak, you will be eaten.

150
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:19,000
Now if that were true in 1883.

151
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,000
If it's true even in 1883 that indeed the cities have weakened our species.

152
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:31,000
Imagine just how much worse it is in 2023.

153
00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:37,000
Case in point, a couple of weekends ago the internet went out on us.

154
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,000
And this was not a simple unplug, replug, reboot.

155
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,000
Oh no.

156
00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:49,000
It was obvious that our internet was going to be out at least for the weekend.

157
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:53,000
And it was a holiday weekend.

158
00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,000
Oh you could hear the moaning starting.

159
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,000
Oh Lord, how long oh Lord.

160
00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,000
That was just me.

161
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,000
Wilderness is a brutal place.

162
00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,000
Nature is not on your side.

163
00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,000
In fact, it just doesn't care about your well-being.

164
00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:21,000
And that's what the children of Israel learned in the wilderness as well.

165
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:30,000
After 430 years of slavery in Egypt, God gloriously delivered His people from their bondage and their tyranny to Pharaoh.

166
00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:37,000
On the dramatic Passover night, they ate the lamb whose blood was on their doorposts.

167
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:42,000
The people of death passed over those homes.

168
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,000
However, he convinced Pharaoh to let them go.

169
00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:53,000
And then in another dramatic act of salvation, God led his Israelites through the waters of the Red Sea,

170
00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:58,000
drowning Pharaoh's army with all his glorious chariots and horses.

171
00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:04,000
The Israelites joyfully sang, I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously.

172
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,000
And the horse and his rider, he has thrown into the sea.

173
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,000
It was a wonderful time for Israel.

174
00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:19,000
They were God's people redeemed, saved from their enemy, and they were on their way to the Promised Land.

175
00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,000
And what came next for the Israelites?

176
00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:25,000
Well, their new life got off to a really pretty good start.

177
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,000
After the Exodus, the Lord led his people to a place called Elam.

178
00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:34,000
There were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees.

179
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:43,000
It was if the Israelites had already reached the Promised Land, as if they were tasting paradise.

180
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:49,000
Not one, but 12 springs of water, one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

181
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:54,000
Not a few, but 70 palm trees into varied shade and food.

182
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:58,000
The numbers themselves pointed toward the paradise of heaven.

183
00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:05,000
The scene points forward to the city of heaven through whom the river of life, through which the river of life runs.

184
00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:15,000
It points to the tree of life that grows on either side of the river with its 12 kinds of fruits yielding their fruit in each month.

185
00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:22,000
Yes, Elam was a foretaste of the feast to come, a bit of paradise.

186
00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:31,000
But just as it goes in our lives, good times are followed by bad and happy times are followed by hardship.

187
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,000
The Israelites were to move on from there.

188
00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:43,000
After all, they were first going to be stopping at the mountain of God where Moses had worshiped and encountered God.

189
00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,000
The first crisis was in the form of hunger.

190
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:56,000
After Elam, as they headed out into the wilderness, after a month or so things that turned sour, they had no food and they were hungry, really hungry.

191
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,000
Now, for a lot of us, hunger isn't much of a problem.

192
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:05,000
In fact, many of us could use more exercise and less food, but the Israelites were hungry.

193
00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:09,000
Hungry enough that they were longing for the food of Egypt.

194
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:15,000
They were longing for the food of the land of slavery.

195
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,000
God was with them.

196
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,000
God delivered them.

197
00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:33,000
He began to give to them a daily bread that would be with them throughout their time in the wilderness and even into the promised land until the first round of crops were harvested.

198
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,000
He gave them manna each and every day.

199
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,000
And now, still in the desert, we come to crisis number two.

200
00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:49,000
Moving along through the desert, according to the command of God, they set up camp at a place called Refideum.

201
00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:55,000
The problem was, there was no water.

202
00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,000
Now, that is a big problem.

203
00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:02,000
In fact, that's a bigger problem than no food.

204
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:09,000
That's why some warn us that we should always keep bottled water handy, just in case of emergency.

205
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:15,000
Because you can go far less time without water than you can without food.

206
00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:23,000
And if ever you have been thirsty, really thirsty, you know how bad it can be.

207
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:35,000
Your mouth dries out, your energy wanes, and eventually there's nothing else you can think about besides quenching your thirst.

208
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:41,000
And then think there at Refideum, where God tells them to set up camp where there is no water.

209
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:45,000
Think about all the mothers worried for their children.

210
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,000
This was a big deal.

211
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:53,000
This was a life-threatening deal.

212
00:13:53,000 --> 00:14:04,000
Sometimes we think about Israelites as grumblers, as ungrateful ones, and maybe that's true.

213
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:15,000
But there at Refideum, facing no water, they probably had a good reason to wonder what is God up to.

214
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:23,000
Why would He deliver us out of Egypt if only we're going to die either from hunger or from thirst?

215
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:32,000
Why has He led us out of the land of death only to let us die in the wilderness?

216
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:40,000
And indeed, that feeling is not uncommon, not even for us as Christians.

217
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:48,000
If my Lord has done so much to deliver me from sin, from death, from the power of the devil, why has He let me down?

218
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,000
Why has He let me suffer so?

219
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:54,000
Why is the Lord of bounty not providing?

220
00:14:54,000 --> 00:15:01,000
Why if He is the source of goodness, does He not let more of that goodness come my way?

221
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:09,000
And then there are plenty of folks, such as Joel Olstein, who just absolutely promise a better life.

222
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:18,000
Saying that Christ wants your life to be full and abundant with earthly blessings.

223
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:29,000
That doesn't always seem to be the way God deals with His people, with His children.

224
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,000
Now it's interesting to see what happens next.

225
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:37,000
The people, they're thirsty with the kind of thirst that most of us will never know.

226
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:38,000
They go to Moses.

227
00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:45,000
Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

228
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,000
And Moses cried out, what shall I do with this people?

229
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,000
They are almost ready to stone me.

230
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,000
They were upset about the food.

231
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,000
They complained about the food.

232
00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:07,000
But when they come to Moses about the water, they are threatening to kill him.

233
00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:14,000
Then the Lord told Moses to take some of the elders with him, march before the people.

234
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,000
And the Lord added, behold, I will stand before you there at the rock at Horab,

235
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:24,000
and you will strike the rock and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.

236
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:29,000
And sure enough, in the sight of the elders, Moses struck the rock and water came out of the rock,

237
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,000
and the people drank.

238
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,000
They had wondered, is the Lord among us or not?

239
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:41,000
And the water flowing from the rock is the answer, yes.

240
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,000
Yes, the Lord is indeed with His people.

241
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:50,000
The wilderness may not have cared a hoot about them.

242
00:16:50,000 --> 00:17:02,000
But their God, who had redeemed them, certainly did.

243
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,000
What can we learn from all of this?

244
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:12,000
Should we be hard on the Israelites for their complaining?

245
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,000
I suppose we could.

246
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,000
But that really isn't the point, is it?

247
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,000
Because the fact of the matter is, we wouldn't be any different.

248
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,000
I mean, come on, hiccups in the supply chain threw people into a tizzy,

249
00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:36,000
let alone facing death itself without water?

250
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,000
Is grumbling always bad?

251
00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:46,000
Well, I suppose that we could say we're called to fear, love, and trust God with all our heart, soul, and mind.

252
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:54,000
Therefore, it seems like grumbling shouldn't be part of the picture.

253
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,000
But you know, it is interesting that trust can't be commanded,

254
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,000
and it doesn't develop overnight.

255
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:07,000
I've read about couples who adopt children,

256
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:12,000
specifically children who have been abused or neglected.

257
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,000
And the story is the same again and again.

258
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:20,000
These parents, they want to wrap these children in a full embrace of love,

259
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:24,000
but the children themselves, well, they only come about in stages.

260
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:30,000
They have to learn to trust, and it doesn't come quickly, it doesn't come easily,

261
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:39,000
it often comes very little by very little and with lots of fighting in between.

262
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,000
It's a little remarkable when you look at the story from Exodus

263
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:50,000
that God actually doesn't chastise His people.

264
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:55,000
In the Exodus, they knew His redemptive and saving power.

265
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:58,000
At the paradise of the springs and palm trees at Elam,

266
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,000
they learned about what the Lord wanted,

267
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:06,000
what it was ultimately bringing His people to a paradise far greater than Elam.

268
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,000
But in the meantime, there is the wilderness.

269
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:16,000
There are times of hungering and thirsting that are real and are deep.

270
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:21,000
And for that hunger and that thirst, the Lord would rain down manna from heaven

271
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,000
and bring forth water from a rock.

272
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:32,000
Our Lord would provide for His people so that they could learn that they can trust the Lord.

273
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:36,000
In the desert, God was building a relationship with His people,

274
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,000
and He was patient. The psalmist says,

275
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,000
slow to anger but abounding instead fast love.

276
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,000
So what about for us?

277
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:59,000
We would actually do well to expect hardships and to not be surprised when things go badly.

278
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:05,000
So often, it's in the difficulties, it's in the tough times,

279
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:09,000
that that is when we remember our Lord.

280
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:15,000
And those are the times when we learn to rely on Him all the more.

281
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:25,000
In the good times, we so easily become fat and happy that we lose sight of God as the giver of all good things.

282
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:30,000
No food fills our stomach unless it's been given by the hand of God.

283
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:37,000
No water quenches our thirst unless it comes from the good and gracious hand of the Lord.

284
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,000
But there is even more.

285
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:48,000
These stories do point us to a greater hunger and a greater thirst that only God can satisfy.

286
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:56,000
Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

287
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,000
For bread and water? No.

288
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,000
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

289
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,000
One of the lessons of the man and the wilderness?

290
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:15,000
One of the lessons was, man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

291
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000
Apart from Christ, we're empty.

292
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000
We have a hole not in our stomach but in our heart.

293
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:35,000
We can fill that hole with all sorts of things but we can only be truly satisfied with Christ, our righteousness.

294
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:39,000
With Christ, who says that He is the bread of life.

295
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:46,000
Who says that He is actually the manna that God rained down from heaven for us.

296
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,000
And so it is every time we come to communion.

297
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:55,000
We eat the good and true manna from heaven. We taste the bread of life.

298
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,000
The truth is life in the desert is often dreary.

299
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,000
Sickness, death and decay are all around us.

300
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:09,000
But our Lord provides us with a heavenly bread, His very flesh, given for the life of the world.

301
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,000
Given so that we might not hunger again.

302
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:20,000
Given so that we might be full and satisfied even in the harshness of the wilderness.

303
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:29,000
Given so that even though we will die, we will live.

304
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,000
And so also He provides the living water.

305
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:38,000
The same water He provided to the Samaritan woman, the woman who had been so often divorced.

306
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,000
There is a woman who was thirsty for something that the world couldn't provide.

307
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:50,000
And she tried to fill it in this case with men, hoping against hope that the next one would make her happy.

308
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000
But it didn't work. It couldn't work.

309
00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:01,000
Because ultimately our longing is for the man Christ Himself.

310
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:07,000
Paul would write about the rock and the water in the wilderness.

311
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:15,000
And he gave us this beautiful insight from the Holy Spirit that that rock was Christ Himself.

312
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,000
He is the source of our living water.

313
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,000
He is the Lamb who was slain but now lives forever and ever.

314
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,000
The one from whom the river of life flows.

315
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:35,000
He is the well from which our deepest desires are fulfilled.

316
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:42,000
Like the Israelites, we are in the wilderness still.

317
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:46,000
The promised land is yet to come.

318
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:51,000
Our freedom has been won for us by Christ.

319
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:58,000
And God is in the process of building us into the people He wants us to be.

320
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:05,000
He is in the process of building us and conforming us to the likeness of His Son.

321
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:14,000
We shouldn't be surprised when we have hot days or hungry days or thirsty days or super snowy days.

322
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:19,000
Maybe along the way we'll grumble first.

323
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,000
Let's always bring our grumbling, our complaints to the Lord.

324
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:28,000
Knowing that He hears your pleas and He answers your prayers.

325
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:35,000
Maybe not in the way you would like and certainly not as quickly as we'd want.

326
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:43,000
Like the Israelites, we may very well ask that question, is the Lord among us or not?

327
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000
But be assured of this.

328
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:51,000
In Christ Jesus, the answer is absolutely yes.

329
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:57,000
With the promise that He will never leave us and never forsake us.

330
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:03,000
And with that, we can be satisfied.

331
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,000
Amen.

332
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:14,000
May the peace of God established in Jesus' death and resurrection be a peace that fills your hearts and your minds,

333
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:19,000
satisfying your hunger and thirst for righteousness.

334
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,000
Amen.

335
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,000
Thanks for listening to Lightly Salted. We'd love to hear from you.

336
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:33,000
You can contact us at StJohn's PR.org or look for us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

337
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:38,000
Our thanks to Eric Mediash at soundimage.org for morning dew.

338
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:50,000
God's blessings.