Monday, July 31, 2006
Exodus 17:6 "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." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders.
THE UNEXPECTED
Could water have come from a more unusual place? In the desert at Rephidim, the Children of Israel could see no water anywhere. They quarreled with Moses saying, "Give us water to drink." And then all of a sudden, there was water, spurting from a rock.
The people should have known by now that God would take care of them with His mighty hand. They should have known that He would even do so in surprising and unexpected ways should the situation require it. They had seen the plagues which had forced Pharaoh to release their whole nation from captivity in Egypt. They had most recently seen the LORD cover the ground with manna, giving them food until they were full. But even with all this, the moment a new trouble came into view, they forgot all that and set to complaining again.
Isn't that how we are? We have vast evidence of God's loving care and yet as soon as "there is no water" in our lives, we set so easily to grumbling.
How gracious and merciful is our God that He silences our complaints not with the voice of anger, but with the sound of water coming from a rock -- the rustling noise of His blessings coming from unexpected places! When we think He can't bring forth any good thing, God is there opening His hand and satisfying the desires of every living thing sure enough. He is, in fact, the Master of giving gifts in unexpected ways. After all, who would have thought that from a cross and some nails could come eternal life?
