I Hate My life- Welcome to visitors. Came as guest, hope you leave as family.
READ EXODUS 17:1-7
1. You’re going to hate your life if you keep going through the same thing
- Israel continues in the desert, mind you still continuing to receive the provisions of the manna, end up in a situation where they have no water
- Lets back up for a minute here-
- In Exodus 16, the Israelites face hunger in the wilderness. God responds by providing manna, a miraculous food from heaven, to feed them daily. God is building something in them here
- Dependence: rely on Him for their daily sustenance, trust in His provision “I will be your God, you will be my people”
- Obedience: gather only as much manna as they need follow God’s commands precisely.
- Trust: Collecting manna each morning should have taught them to trust in God more.
- Despite having witnessed God’s power and provision already, they quickly descend into contention and doubt and forgetfulness– Isn’t this like us? We forget the blessing of God?
- Question God’s Presence: question whether God is among them, showing a deep-seated insecurity about God’s presence and care (Exodus 17:7).
- Lack of Faith: They quarrel with Moses and by extension, God, demonstrating a lack of faith and trust in God’s ability to provide for their needs as He had done before.
- Short Memory: Their quick forgetfulness of God’s recent miracles indicates a spiritual immaturity and an inability to remember and learn from past experiences.
- What was going on here?
- There were eternal spiritual truths that they needed to learn from past experiences.
- They were focused on the temporary and not the eternal- They worried about TODAY
- They failed to learn that trust in God should be continuous and not based on the immediate fulfillment of their needs. That walking with God is a lifestyle not an event.
- Their trust was contingent and conditional, eroding quickly when new challenges arose.
- They did not internalize the lesson of God’s faithfulness and His ongoing commitment to care for them, regardless of the situation.
- The repeated testing of God reveals their lack of spiritual maturity. They failed to grow from their experiences and to cultivate a deeper relationship with God that was based on faith rather than sight.
- Here’s what should have happened in Exodus 17
- They should have developed a lasting faith that would sustain them through all trials, not just when miracles were performed in their sight.
- They should have cultivated a collective memory of God’s faithfulness, continually recalling His past provisions as encouragement for the future.
- They needed a more profound trust in God’s plan and His timing, regardless of immediate circumstances they were in.
2. Are we any better?
- We’ve been through Deserts where God provides and we come to the next thirst and we forget
- Life can be cumbersome and overwhelming at times. We trudge along just getting by
- So much to do to just live. We work and toil and plan and save and spend and toil
- It can make you hate life– Ecc 2:17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
- If you spend too much time focusing on it, it can consume you and take your joy! WHY WHY
- We work hard Just to die and leave everything we’ve amassed to someone else.
- Ecc 2:18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
- I hate my life. I hate my work. This can become someone’s mindset! So temporary!
- Having a temporary mindset can keep you from being able to enjoy your life.
- Like Israel, with no spiritual maturity, we eat the manna and forget when we becone thirsty
- Paul Challenged the Corinthian church and challenges us as well-
- 2 Co 4:18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
- We must develop and maintain an eternal mindset to be able to not hate our work and life
- When you do this you will have more joy, contentment, peace and perspective
- You will be able to navigate your life and the life of your children more easily. You will cease to focus on immediate physical solutions and you will embrace spiritual eternal truths.
How do we do build an eternal perspective v a temporary one?
3. To keep an eternal mindset Build some faith
- You cannot build faith without going through anything that stretches your faith and belief
- If you never go through anything, you never learn anything. Israel went through manna no learn
- Your life cannot be an ongoing exercise of creating a fortress of solitude and protection
- You cannot put enough controls in your life to insulate you from all calamity and harm
- Some of you only follow God because you’re hoping he can keep you safe from harm!
Here’s a few ways to build some faith– Read your Bible. - Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- I say this all the time- but we’re a growing church that always has new people
- Read your Bible. Read it every day. Study it. Put it on your walls. Mediate on it.
- You see how God provided and what God did and it encourages you to trust and believe.
- Take spiritual risks
- 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
- Live and look for situations where you have to trust God more than yourself.
- This doesn’t mean make stupid decisions, not paying bills, getting gas, fixing car, no health
- Faithful in the tithe, ridiculous generosity, not defending yourself, holding to God’s word, living a life of discipline, separating yourself from sin, staying away from the World etc. Witnessing, living sacrificially etc. Serving others, (going and doing some street ministry last year)
- Pray and Love more
- This scripture makes clear two things- Pray in the Spirit, keep YOURSELF in the LOVE
- Jude 1:20-21 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
- Longer teaching- but pray in the spirit and pray with all types of prayers.
- Prayer keeps you grounded and it keeps you focused. If you’re not praying, you’re not building faith- you talk to God about the fears and the risks and the worries and watch what he does.
- You don’t rely on yourself, you rely on HIM and he helps you
- Keep yourself in LOVE. Love is so central to the Christian faith- daily and hourly we need to see where our hearts are in regards to other people in this world
- When you live in love it builds your faith. You see what God does through you through love
- But YOU keep yourself in that. Its easy to keep yourself in frustration and anger.
5. TO have an eternal mindset Don’t forget
- You must not forget the faithfulness of God.
- Do whatever you need to do to constantly remember the faithfulness of God.
- Post signs, pictures, memories on wall. Talk about them to other people. Write them in a journal, tell your children about them. Spend time in prayer reflecting and making lists verbally thank God with your mouth, praise his name for his faithfulness.
- YOU focus your mind. Only YOU. Get away from screens and just sit and ponder
- How different would it have been for the children of Israel if someone in the group was like- hold on guys, he’s been making food fall from the sky, lets not lose it here. God is faithful.
- They are reminded by moses in his last speech to them-
- Deuteronomy 6:12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
- This is why Passover, communion, worship, reading, fellowship are so important.
- When we’re in Texas, If Im able I’ve enjoyed going by our old house on Easy Street
- Just sit outside and reminisce of the faithfulness of God throughout the years.
- Psalm 77:11 I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
- God is faithful! You must remember this! You have to remind yourself of this.
- Deuteronomy 8:11 Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
- Forgetfulness leads to faithlessness. You no longer walk in the statutes of The Lord.
5. To build an eternal mindset learn to Trust
- Building trust comes from building faith, not forgetting and then engaging your mind
- When you find yourself in situations that necessitate trust, verbally open your mouth and say “Lord, right now I’m going to trust in you in this situation”
- You engage your mind, your mouth and body to trust God.
- Someone should have spoken up to Israel and said “we’re going to trust God”
- We don’t plant seeds and we don’t raise cattle. We have jobs. It takes a different type of Faith, but it can still build your faith as you trust God through all economic cycles.
- Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
- That means that in the midst of what may be going on around you that God is working something out that you may not understand or see right away.
- This doesn’t mean you hide from the responsibilities of life from saying you’re learning to trust God.
- You still have to plow, you still have to plant and water, you still have to pull the weeds.
- Moses still had to strike the rock. Israel still had to walk through the wilderness
- I’ve seen far too many lazy people who say they are trusting God but really hiding from God
- Psalm 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
- Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
- 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river,
- And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
- You might even have some droughts. You might struggle to see some fruit. It’s all about where your trust is.
6. Eternal mindset comes from living water
- In exodus 17 the Israelites are thirsty. Wandering in the desert. I’m sure they are super thirsty.
- But here’s the deal about water- no matter how much you drink, you can’t drink enough water.
- I typically drink at least ½ gallon of water a day. Sometimes more. But I can’t drink enough water to never be thirsty again.
- As Israel is walking through the desert experience, God is doing something in them.
- Dependence, Obedience, Trust. God wants to be their God and to be their people
- But this Rock is a foreshadowing of Christ that will be their full dependence
- 1 Cor 10:1-6 READ. Jesus was the Rock that led them, they should not lust after things.
- The Israelites fell into sin because they did not see God as their provider. They lusted after worldly things
- We too are led astray when we focus too much on the things of this world and long after those things that do not satisfy. We remain thirsty when we don’t find satisfaction in Jesus
- The Samaritan woman came to Jesus looking for a temporary fix to her thirst- water.
- John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
- The only satisfaction that we will ever find on this side of Heaven will be in the living water of Jesus Christ.
- Life is difficult. It’s not going to change. You’re going to be living here until you’re not
- But you’re needlessly walking through it if you’re only consumed with the temporary nature of your life. Relationships, money, jobs, stuff, activities, daily raiment.
- We are not supposed to be consumed with the daily affairs of this world, but to have a mindset of what is eternal. We say “you can’t take it with you” and that’s true, so why do you hoard it?
- We say “we are not of this world” so why do you let them take your joy?
- 1 Timothy 6:8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
- Learn to be content.
- Colossians 3:2 – Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
- Mat 6:19-21 – store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth, where moth and rust destroy.
You can love your life
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