Faith is Contentment, not Contending

Exodus 17:1-7 

1 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord?”  3 And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
    4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”  5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”  And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

As Israel journeyed on into the wilderness by God’s command and leading, they camped where there was no water to drink.  What did they do, trust God?  No, they argued with Moses as if they still did not understand that God was merely using him, and it was God Himself who they had a problem with.  Even Moses pointed this out by telling them that they were tempting the Lord by their unfaithfulness and lack of contentment.  The people of God literally questioned and complained about God’s great deliverance from bondage!  This drove Moses to cry out for direction when at his wits end with them and the situation.  God simply pointed him to take the staff used as a sign at the Nile to unbelieving Pharaoh and strike a certain rock in the presence of some elders to bring water out.  To unbelieving Pharaoh, the rod made water undrinkable; to unbelieving Israel, the rod brought a blessing of drinkable water.  His people should have remembered and had faith; instead of contending they should have had contentment. We also should trust God’s word and wait for His gracious supply.  Godliness with contentment is the true gain (1 Timothy 6:6).