Moses-Day 20

Friday, September 24

Moses: Called, Challenged, Changed

Day 20—Water from Rock

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

Exodus 17:1-2

Suggested reading Exodus 17: 1-7

So now we can add the word quarrel next to the word grumble when describing God’s wonderful people. Oh my! I would expound on their STINKY ATTITUDES, but I know that these Hebrews are meant to be a MIRROR to all of humanity, present company included.

They were thirsty again, and it was all Moses’ fault. Such poor leadership. (Another, “oh my!”). Moses cried out to the Lord, “What do I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me?” (v. 4).

God instructs Moses to take some of the elders with him and then walk ahead of the people. He told Moses to take his staff with him, reminding him, that this staff was the same staff that he used to strike the Nile River back in Egypt. God encouragingly said to Moses, “I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink” (v. 6).

Moses obeyed; he struck the rock, water came out, and the people drank. One commentary states, “the waters flowed out plentifully and continually, making a river, which God caused to follow them to their several stations” (Matthew Poole).

The people’s quarreling with Moses and lack of trust in God left a mark however. And he called the place Massah (Temptation) and Meribah (Strife) because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (v.7).

Thoughts:

Rather than write another post about our human hearts which are so prone to wander in faithlessness and doubt, I want to take a different angle concerning the beautiful portrayal of Christ in this real-live-event in the desert. Scripture says it best through the pen of Paul close to 1500 years later:

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4

The miracle of water pouring from the rock was not only for the Hebrews physically, it was also pointing to their future Messiah…the Rock, the living water, the I AM. HE was with the Hebrews in the desert, and HE was with the first century believers in Paul’s day, and HE is with us now. Hear him say, drink.

What’s your “quarrel” today? Hmmm, I can personally name a few. Can you and I release these things to the Lord and trust him with our circumstances? Let’s lean into his unshakeable presence and be refreshed.

Going deeper and Sweeter: Deut. 32:4; 1 Sam. 2:2; Jeremiah 31:25

Dear Lord,

When we begin to wonder if you are among us or not, please whisper your name in our ear and say, I AM. Christ the Rock was struck on our behalf so that we can always have LIFE. Impress this truth into our hearts all over again today. Amen.