Exodus 16:19-17:16; Matthew 22:23-33; Psalms 27:7-10; Proverbs 10:31-32
OT: “The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.” (Exodus 17:1-6 CSB)
In John 7, it speaks of Jesus attending the Feast of Tabernacles. During the feast, the Jews remembered how the Lord provided for them as they wandered in the wilderness. On the last day of the feast, the Priest would pour out a pitcher of water on the ground symbolizing this very account from Exodus – when God provided water out of a rock. Jesus, at that moment, cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me… He who believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” When we submit our lives to Jesus and follow Him, though He may lead us through dry and barren places, we are never dry and barren. He, the source of all life and refreshment, bubbles up in us and through us life and refreshment – just as He did with Moses when he struck the rock.
Jamie Hicks 