Exodus 15:22-16:36 Study Guide: Trusting God in the Wilderness

Community Group Study Guide — Trusting God in the Wilderness 
Exodus 15:22-16:36

Study Information:
God loves to take people into the wilderness! Throughout the Bible we read of Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham, Moses, Elijah and even Jesus Christ go to the wilderness. God’s goals are different in each circumstance. Sometimes it is for rescue, other times it is to test them and in the case of Christ it was a test that led to showcasing his victory. Each time that God took someone to the wilderness they faced trouble and hardship, but God supplied for their need. The Israelites were rescued from slavery and witnessed God’s mighty victory over the Egyptian army which led them into the wilderness where they’d be tested by God to see if they’d listen to his voice. In that experience their grumbling and faithless hearts were confronted and they needed to depend on God’s grace daily for their basic needs. 

Grumbling to Gratitude
Exodus 15:22-16:12
It only took three days into their journey to Mount Sinai for Israel to face trouble. By that time they’d begin to run out of water and face their human need. You can imagine their joy and coming across the spring/pond and the frustration when they discovered that it was undrinkable. The place was named Marah which means “bitter” in Hebrew. This was just enough to set the people off into grumbling. This grumbling pops up again when they ran out of food about 6 weeks after crossing the red sea (Exodus 16:1). 

We would likely do the same thing if we were there with them. They were likely exhausted, had left most of their possessions behind and were now walking for weeks in the desert. But their grumbling shows a fundamental lack of trust in God’s grace as he led them. Notice some things about this grumbling. Their grumbling was pervasive throughout the entire people (Exodus 16:2). Their grumbling was against Moses and Aaron, but really it was against God; this should be a word of caution that grumbling about our circumstances can actually be grumbling against God himself (Exodus 16:8). Also this grumbling showed that they looked upon the past with more optimism than it deserved. Rather than looking on the hardship of slavery in Egypt with thankfulness for God’s freedom, they instead grumbled saying “at least we had meat in Egypt (Exodus 16:3).” It is important to not romanticize the past, but grumbling often does that and we neglect the legitimate hardships we had to endure. 

One glaring thing in this passage is that at no point did Israel pray to God for help. Instead of praying to God, who had worked so many miracles for them, they murmured and complained about God to one another. God in his grace provided for them with drinkable water and daily bread. Moses prayed and God showed him a log to throw into the Marah pool to make it drinkable which was a reversal of the first plague on Egypt. And in response to their lack of food God provided daily with manna. Our grumbling is often rooted in a lack of trust in God and a fear that he will not provide for our future. God took them to the wilderness to expose this lack of trust and to test them to see if they’d listen to his voice and follow him in trust (Exodus 15:25-26). His goal was not to harm them or to make them needlessly suffer, he was proving to them that he could be trusted and that they’d be blessed if they listened to him. 

We can go to God in prayer when our needs are too much for us. We can ask God for our daily bread and respond to him with thanksgiving and gratitude knowing that God is the giver of every perfect gift. 

Testing to Trust
Exodus 16:13-36
We’re told a few times in this scripture that God was testing his people (Exodus 15:25, 16:4). God know everything and did not need to see the outcome, instead he wanted them to be confronted with the reality that they did not trust him yet. Their lack of trust comes out in how they failed to listen to God’s instructions on the Manna and functionally they turned the tables on God and tested him to see if he’d be true to what he promised. Notice the instructions for the Manna and how they required Israel to daily rely on God’s provision. 

Manna was a flaky substance that tasted like honey wafers and they would collect this each day in a jar to be used for their food (Exodus 16:14, 31). This gift of manna would last all 40 years of their wilderness experience regardless of how much they deserved it or whether they were being particularly faithful. Think of it this way, the day they made the golden calf they also likely collected manna to have something to eat that day. God’s grace is more than we deserve. Manna arrived each morning and they were instructed to go out before the sun melted it away and to only take as much as they would need. Hoarding manna would not work because at the end of each day it would go bad. The idea here was for them to trust God daily for their needs. Likewise, on the Sabbath, they were to collect twice as much the day before so they could rest on the Sabbath. Israel failed God’s test and in return tested God. Israel turned the tables on God and some tried to collect and hoard manna and others would go out on the Sabbath to see if there really was no manna as God had said. Why is it so hard to take God at his word? 

Behind the Israelite’s grumbling and testing was fear about the future and a distrust of God. God helps grow their trust by stretching them in the wilderness so they’d need to look to him and daily rely on what God provides. 

Our physical needs often cause us to reflect on our spiritual needs and to look to God to provide for it all as we trust him. The only miracle recorded in every gospel is Jesus feeding the 5,000. Jesus purposefully took a crowd to a place of need and provided for them and then talked to them directly about how their greater need was a spiritual one. Jesus told the crowd, that he alone was the bread of life and that the manna in the wilderness was miraculous but those who ate of it still died. 

John 6:31–35 [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [32] Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” [35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (ESV)

Jesus connected his life and death to the manna in the wilderness because our greatest need is reconciliation with God and our physical needs are key to helping us know our true spiritual need. When you experience need, turn to God in prayer and look to him to provide for you. Resist the temptation to grumble and test God and allow your needs to deepen your faith and trust. 

At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 


Discussion Questions:
Read Exodus 15:22-16:36

What do we learn about grumbling from these verses? What are some reasons grumbling is a problem in our culture when we have so much wealth and comfort?

God told Moses and Israel that he was testing them. What was God testing and what did he want Israel to learn?

How was the collection of manna designed to deepen the daily trust of Israel?

Where do you feel like your personal trust in God is lacking? What are some steps you can take to grow in trust?