BIBLE W2 D2 Water from the Rock (Exodus 17:1-7)

Drink a glass of water.

(Go ahead... I'll wait.)

It's refreshing, isn't it? And it's a reminder of how fortunate we are, and how blessed we are. We take a glass and hold it under a faucet, then turn a handle or move a lever and wow! We have cool, clear, drinkable, refreshing water.

Now I have a question for you. Who provided the water? Is it your parents who paid the water bill? Is it the water company who got the water to your house? No. You guessed it... if it's George's blog, the answer must somehow be God or Jesus. In this case, you're right, God provides us our water in the same way He provided it to the nation of Israel. Back then He worked through Moses who struck the rock. Today he works through treatment plant operators, engineers, water company technicians (as well as billing departments and clerical staff, and I guess management) to make it all work. But the resulting water in our homes is still just as miraculous.

God will provide.

That is a HARD lesson for us to learn and even harder for us to trust. The nation of Israel had been struggling with that lesson since the time of Abram and Issac, and in this reading they seem blind to the whole prior history of Exodus - the way God acted with Pharaoh, etc., - and are hung up on mere water. In fact, just in the previous chapter (Exodus 16) God provides them with FOOD (seems much harder to me) in the form of manna and quail. But they can't see, and so they beg for water... and God provides. (He has been providing water all along - they have been journeying - but now He provides it in a more dramatic fashion.)

We are asked to think of a time when we were spiritually discouraged and reflect on how God responded and provided for us in our lives. I must admit that's me right now. I have this idea for an activity for our upcoming 30 hour famine that seems to be a really great idea. But it's going to cost $8000. I can't shake the feeling that we're supposed to do this, but with the economy being what it is and church resources stretched so thin, I've not yet been able to find the path to the funding. I know God will provide. I guess I'm just having trouble trusting it. So I'll keep putting out feelers, but it is spiritually discouraging each time God tells me "not yet".

Please pray with me for the funding, but also pray for me to have the patience to trust that God will provide.

(FINAL NOTE: Space and time prevent me from getting into the obvious side lesson that we are blessed with wonderful water at the tap and others are not. God will provide for them also, but I suspect God has appointed us as a key provider for them. You'll hear more about this as we approach the 30 Hour Famine in February.)