Tonight at our Little Big Church service we looked at Exodus 17:1-7, the story of a leaking rock. We have been learning about Moses (and how God protected him as a baby when Pharaoh wanted to kill all Hebrew baby boys) and how God used him to lead the people of God out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea in a wonderful display of God’s miraculous power.
The Israelites did not find it easy to trust God in the wilderness, however, feeling that they would die of thirst. We tasted some unfamiliar drinks to find out if we liked them (strawberry and lemon were quite popular, coconut water much less so!) and found out that God provided water for the Israelites to drink through a most unusual source: by Moses hitting a rock with his staff!
God provides for us in frankly unimaginable ways. He provided manna from heaven and quail for the people to eat and gave Israel the water they needed to survive for forty years in the wilderness. We can’t always ‘work out’ how God will protect, guide and rescue us, but He has promised ot do so. With God, all things are possible, and so we must learn to trust rather than testing God, arguing, quarrelling and doubting Him. Jesus is the living water (John 7:38) and when we drink from Him, we can be satisfied spiritually. We need to be filled with His Spirit (Eph 5:18) so that we can endure the desert times and thrive with Him.