Exodus 16:1-15
Richard Dahlstrom, Senior Pastor, www.spiritsoulbody.org
Knowing God, by experiences that build faith, is the absolutely foundational key to our transformation. In this text we learn something about our default mode as humans in God’s lab, and something about God’s character.
- Default Mode as Humans in God’s Lab: Grumbling
- Default Mode of God: Merciful Provision
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Discussion Questions
Before questions, attempt to give the group a bit of a summary of the main points of the sermon and then choose a few questions that fit your group’s needs and style. We don’t intend for you to use all of these. Three to five questions may be a good number.
- What is the Wilderness are you currently walking through? (pandemic, job loss, cancer…?)
- When did you last experience God as one of the following: comforter, merciful, a guide, companion or as your strength?
- What where the circumstances that led to you being able to experience God in that way?
- We studied this week how are experiences foundational to transformation and knowing God? How does that intersect with head knowledge and/or Biblical knowledge?
- Pastor Richard poses that our default mode as humans is grumbling, whereas God’s is merciful provision.
- Have the group reflect for a moment and write down on a piece of paper what they have grumbling about most right now in a single word.
- Ask everyone to hold up what they wrote, either taking turns sharing, or share at the same time and let them be seen for moment together as you hold each other's "grumbling" without judgement.
- Describe the difference between grumbling and lament.
- What danger lies in confusing the two? (ie. demonizing lament to not respond/complain about injustice)
- Resting in knowing that God is good: Is there anything about what you wrote down for “grumbling" that:
- Needs to be lamented or grieved?
- Needs to be reflected upon further with remembrance of God’s goodness (which on the outset may not have been easy to see)?
- What’s one step you can do in order to both enter into the fullness of what God has for you, and avoid the fate of the decidedly unhappy people in the wilderness in this Exodus example?
- (i.e. practice gratitude, pour out your heart to God!)
- What do you think it would it be like to be raised on gratitude, to speak to the natural world as a member of the democracy of species, to raise a pledge of interdependence?
- We are reminded that God provides not in a single outpouring but in daily doses? What about our collective Church history shows the wisdom in that?
- Read Psalm 73:26 aloud. How can our daily bread be both a source of strength and satisfaction?