Life-giving Water

Life-Giving Water

Q: Where did Moses get water for the Israelites to drink?

• a. from a pond
• b. from a rock
• c. from the sky

As you read about in the devotionals on February 17 and 18, the Israelites were struggling in their travels to the Promised Land. In Marah the water was too bitter to drink, so God showed Moses a piece of wood to throw into the water. When Moses did, the water turned sweet. Then the Israelites didn’t have food and God provided that for them. Now the Israelites were camped at Rephidim, and there was no water at all.

If God could part the Red Sea—hold the waters back and dry a path for the Israelites—certainly he could provide drinking water for them. He was just waiting for them to ask. But once again, they turned on Moses and asked why he’d brought them out of Egypt just to die of thirst.

God led Moses to a rock and told him to strike it with his staff. If he did this, water would come out. It happened just as God said, and the people had enough to drink. God provided water to meet the Israelites’ physical needs, but they would soon be thirsty again. People need water to live.

In the New Testament, Jesus talked with a woman by a well. He told her, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

Just as a person’s body gets hungry and thirsty, so does his or her soul. Moses gave the people water for their physical bodies, but only Jesus can give spiritual water that satisfies our souls.

For You

Just as you eat so you aren’t hungry, you should feed your soul so you won’t be spiritually empty. Fill yourself with God’s Word each day.

Answer: b

[The Lord said to Moses,] “I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.   Exodus 17:6

(The Whole Story: Exodus 17:1-7)