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349. I Am Water from the Rock

Exodus 17:1-6, Numbers 20:2-13 & John 4:13-14
Key Verse:  "Whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give will become, in that person, a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
John 4:14

While Jesus does not directly say here, "I am the water of life," I have chosen to begin here, because of how God provided water for His people, in the wilderness.   We need water to live.  A person can go for days, or even weeks without food because the body is capable of storing nourishment within the fat cells, as a reserve.  However, there is no reserve system like this for liquid.  We use what we drink.  Water hydrates and flushes impurities from the body.  If we retain it, we become unhealthy very quickly.  Water is our most basic and constant need.

There were two different incidents in the wilderness journey in which the Lord provided water for His people:  Rephidim (or Horeb) and Meribah.  While these stories are similar in many ways, there are also some distinctions of note.  While in both incidences, the people were thirsty and complained, at Rephidim, the Lord instructed Moses to strike the rock from which water then gushed out and at Meribah, the Lord instructed Moses to simply speak to the rock. 

The episode at Rephidim took place shortly after the Children of Israel's journey began.  Their faith was small.  At Meribah, however, they had been wandering with the Lord as their guide for probably thirty-eight or thirty-nine years.  They should have known that the Lord would provide, but old habits die hard.  Worst of all, Moses himself was disobedient and that bad choice cost him the privilege of completing the journey that he had begun with the people.

In the gospel of John, Jesus is beside a well, keeping company with a woman who would be thought to be immoral by most standards.  Here, He offers her water for her soul.  What we need to see is that Jesus is present in all of these events.  In the wilderness, Jesus is represented by the rock from which the spring of water flowed.  This physical water would keep His people alive for another day.  At the well, however, Jesus is offering something of a more permanent nature.

"God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."  (John 4:24)  It is through the Spirit that the woman, and we, can receive the living water that Jesus is talking about.

When you think about it, water is the most essential element for survival.  We must stay close to a water source in order to stay healthy.  Before a house is built, a water source is determined and a well is dug.  In third world countries, those who must travel far for water remain poor because so much of their time is consumed obtaining water for their home.  Much of the time that they could spend in school or farming or any other occupation is spent traveling to a poor water source.  Then, because that water is often impure, it must be cleansed in some form to make it suitable for consumption.

It is the same with us for living water.  We need to stay close to our source of living water to maintain our spiritual health.  Like the rock at Meribah, we only need to speak to our source for the streams of living water to gush forth in blessing for our souls.

In this way, Jesus brightened the color blue to His portrait.  He is our source for living water.  He is the rock from which the gift of living water flows.  Stay close to Him through reading His word and prayer.  Drink His gift of living water daily and stay healthy in Him.

May we all crave the living water as the psalmist who says, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?"  (Psalm 42:1-3)  May we all be as desperate for what He longs to give us.

Hymn: “As the Deer Panteth for the Water ”

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