AGENDA – THE WATERS WERE DIVIDED

OPENING PRAYER - Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to read and study Your Word. Please guide our thoughts and open our hearts to understand the truths You want to reveal. In Jesus' name, Amen.
READ THE SCRIPTURE ALOUD – PHAROAH PURSUES THE ISRAELITES When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, 
READ THE SCRIPTURE ALOUD – CROSSING OF THE RED SEA Then the Lord said to Moses,
QUESTIONS FOR THE JOURNEY
1. The journey of the people of God features amazing deliverance, but it also involves wandering in the wilderness for forty years. 
The period of wandering for forty years is often interpreted as a necessary time of testing, purification, and transition for the Israelite nation—a consequence of their disobedience and lack of faith after their liberation from slavery in Egypt. It served to forge a new generation that was ready to enter and inherit the Promised Land.
When has your journey with God felt more like wandering? I grew up attending St Peter’s Episcopal church in Butler, PA and we attended church every Sunday until I left to attend college. Then for those four years and for 13 more years I wandered away from God and church. 
How has the experience of wandering impacted your faith? The turning point in my wandering back to God and the church came in 1971 when my brother Rick was killed in an auto accident. This event made me realize that some day I would also have to face my own death, but it still took me eight more years to come home. And I could not have done it without a lot of help!
2. In spite of God's presence and promise to them, the people struggle to trust God, and it doesn't take long after their miraculous deliverance for the people to begin complaining, quarreling, and fighting against God and one another. 
This narrative pattern frequently highlights the human struggle with faith and obedience, despite repeated divine intervention. These stories are often interpreted as cautionary tales about the human tendency toward short-term memory regarding blessings and a failure to maintain trust in God's long-term providence.
Why do you think that is? During my wandering years, I was living a self-centered life, and I was young and did not have a lot of worries or reasons to seek God. So, no opportunities for spiritual growth. And I was taking my blessings for granted.
When have you struggled to trust God? I struggled to trust God when my brother died when he was 24 years old.
How might you focus on the glorious things that God has done rather than complain about the things you don't have? Karen was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 and again in 1994. Both times the diagnoses were early and both times resulted in her being cancer free. And yes, I made a deal with God that if she would be made well, then I would do whatever God wanted me to do. Through my spiritual companions, Dave Bane and Susan Lowrey, I began my relationship with Jesus being thankful for and enjoying each day.
3. When God rains down manna from heaven, the people are instructed to only take enough for food each day, and nothing more, but they find it difficult to do. 
Why do you think God asks them to do that? 
Theological interpretations suggest several reasons for this command:
•	A Lesson in Daily Dependence and Trust: The primary reason was to teach the people to rely completely on God for their moment-by-moment sustenance, rather than their own foresight or provisions. It was a daily exercise in faith, demonstrating that God’s provision was reliable and constant.
•	A Test of Obedience: God explicitly states that this was a test to see whether the people would follow His instructions (Exodus 16:4).
•	Reinforcement of the Sabbath Principle: The system reinforced the sanctity of the Sabbath. The need to trust in a double portion gathered the day before demonstrated the importance of resting on the seventh day without the anxiety of daily labor. 
Why do you think it's so difficult?  
The text indicates the people struggled with this command, often gathering more than they needed, which subsequently bred worms and spoiled (Exodus 16:20). Their difficulty stemmed from deep human anxieties:
•	A Scarcity Mindset: The Israelites had just come out of generations of slavery in Egypt, a land with predictable—albeit often harsh—food systems. Facing an unknown desert wilderness led to acute anxiety and a deeply ingrained scarcity mindset. They worried that tomorrow’s supply might not appear.
•	Lack of Faith: Fundamentally, their disobedience represented a lack of faith in God's explicit promise that the manna would appear every morning. They trusted their own anxious instincts (hoarding) over divine assurance (daily provision).
•	The Impulse to Control: The act of gathering extra was an attempt to regain control over their circumstances and provide their own security, a fundamental human tendency to manage risk outside of trusting a higher power.
Compare this to Matthew 6:9-13. What might these passages say to us today? 
Both passages shift the focus from anxious long-term accumulation to humble, present-moment reliance on God for immediate needs. Jesus later reinforces this idea in the surrounding Sermon on the Mount, teaching people not to worry about what they will eat or wear tomorrow, as God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:25-34).
4. In Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, God is very specific, describing in great detail the tabernacle and vestments and what to eat and what to wear. 
What might God be saying to us about our lives by listing the laws so specifically?
These instructions cover a vast array of topics that governed the religious, civil, and moral life of the ancient Israelites. The meticulous detail was intended to: 
•	Establish Holiness: Set the Israelites apart as a holy people dedicated to God.
•	Provide a Way to Atonement: Detail the sacrificial system necessary for cleansing sin and maintaining a relationship with a holy God.
•	Ensure Proper Worship: Provide exact blueprints for the tabernacle, the portable sanctuary, and the required priestly garments to ensure worship was conducted correctly and reverently.
•	Govern Daily Life: The dietary and clothing laws (e.g., laws regarding clean and unclean foods, prohibitions against wearing garments made of mixed fibers) were part of a comprehensive legal code designed to infuse every aspect of daily life with awareness of God's covenant and presence.
What might God be saying to us about our lives by listing the laws so specifically? 
•	The ancient laws call us to move beyond a casual or accidental faith and embrace intentional living. In a world that often operates on convenience and efficiency, these laws remind us that our daily choices, what we consume, how we dress, how we spend our time—are spiritually significant. We are encouraged to live deliberately, honoring our values or faith in every mundane task.
Even though we live in a different time, how might those laws speak to us today?
•	We may not build a physical Tabernacle, but the detailed instructions emphasize that where we meet God matters, and how we interact with the "sacred" requires reverence. This speaks to the need for dedicated time and space for reflection, prayer, or worship. The boundaries established in the law highlight the importance of healthy boundaries in our own lives, protecting what is spiritually important from what is worldly or harmful.
•	The call to be "holy" is a universal theme across time. For contemporary individuals, this translates to living counter-culturally: prioritizing integrity in business, pursuing justice when the culture promotes apathy, or seeking simplicity amidst materialism. The laws remind us that our lives should reflect a higher moral standard that distinguishes us from prevailing cultural norms.
•	The ancient laws required immense discipline. In an age of infinite personal choices and moral ambiguity, these passages argue for the benefit of structure and discipline. They suggest that true freedom is found not in having no rules, but in adhering to a wise structure that guides our behavior toward human flourishing and connection with the divine.
5. Moses leads the people for forty years, sticking with them even when they grumble, complain, and sin. Yet he doesn't get to see the people make it all the way into the promised land. 
God instructed Moses to take his staff and, along with his brother Aaron, speak to the rock in the sight of the assembly to bring forth water. Instead, in a moment of frustration and anger with the "rebels," Moses struck the rock twice with his staff. Water flowed out, but Moses had not followed God's instructions precisely. God told Moses and Aaron: "Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them".
What do you think about that? Hard for me to understand.
What might that say to us about our own service to God? Do things that will bring glory to God and not yourself.
6. The Bible retells the story of Moses and the people in the wilderness again and again; it becomes a touchstone for the story of the people of God. Look at the way the story is told in Psalm 78. 
How does it compare with the story in this chapter? What do you notice about that version of the story?
Psalm 78 serves as a didactic historical poem (a "maskil" or "parable") intended to teach future generations about God's faithfulness and Israel's recurring pattern of stubborn rebellion. While the core events align with the books of Exodus and Numbers, the psalm's focus and narrative style differ significantly from the original prose accounts. The primary difference lies in attribution of blame. Original Narrative (Numbers 20): The account at the waters of Meribah is precise about Moses' personal failure. God commanded Moses to speak to the rock, but in frustration, Moses struck it twice and took credit. Psalm 78: The psalm generalizes this event and numerous other rebellions, placing the blame squarely on the entire "stubborn and rebellious generation" of Israelites. The text mentions God splitting the rocks and streams flowing (Ps 78:15-16, 20), but it omits any mention of Moses' specific disobedience or his subsequent punishment. The focus is on the people's "unreliable" hearts and their lack of belief in God's saving power.
NEXT STEPS 
Again and again in this chapter, Moses pleads with God on behalf of the people who have sinned. 
What might this say to us about how we are called to pray and relate to one another? 
Moses' consistent role as the intercessor offers powerful lessons about the nature of compassionate relationships and the purpose of prayer. His actions model a profound call for humanity to "stand in the gap" for one another. Moses' life as an intercessor challenges us to adopt a selfless, empathetic, persistent, and grace-oriented approach to both our spiritual disciplines and our daily interactions with a flawed world.
Make a list of some people you are called to pray for or ask someone else to pray for you.
Many of the Ten Commandments seem straightforward and obvious, if not easy. But one of the most overlooked is the command to remember the sabbath. Why do you think God commanded, rather than requested, sabbath observance? How do you—or could you—observe sabbath in your life? Set a goal for observing the sabbath in your coming week. 
Read that commandment closely; what do you notice?
•	The Sabbath command (found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) is unique because:
•	It requires intentional memory and observance ("Remember" / "Observe").
•	It functions as a sign of identity and trust in divine provision, rather than a universal moral law discoverable solely by reason.
•	It provides mandatory rest and social equity for everyone in the household, including servants and animals, making it a radical social justice statute.
Why do you think God commanded, rather than requested, sabbath observance? 
In short, the Sabbath was commanded because it is an essential structure for a life lived in healthy relationship with God and others—a necessity that humanity often fails to recognize or implement without a clear, authoritative instruction.
How do you—or could you—observe sabbath in your life? 
Observing the Sabbath involves intentionally setting aside a regular period of time—typically 24 hours—for rest, worship, and spiritual rejuvenation. The specific practices vary significantly depending on one's faith tradition, primarily between Jewish customs (Shabbat, observed from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) and Christian traditions (most often observed on Sunday, the Lord's Day). 
The essence of Sabbath observance involves two primary components: "remembering" (sanctification through positive activities) and "keeping" (ceasing from regular labor and toil).
Set a goal for observing the sabbath in your coming week.
CLOSING PRAYER - Lord, thank you for this time of study and for Your Word. As we leave, please help us to carry the truths we've learned into our daily lives and to live out Your teachings. May we continue to grow in faith and reflect Your love to others. Amen.