Dear Family,
Today is Sunday, May 11, 2025. This is Day 1 of Week 5 in our Counting toward Pentecost. It is our 29th day of Counting. This week is often referred to as the Week of Water from the Rock.
Exodus 17:1-7 (1) And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. (2) Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said; Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? (3) And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said; Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? (4) And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying; What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. (5) And the LORD said unto Moses; Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. (6) Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. (7) And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying; Is the LORD among us, or not?
As we see in verse 1, there was NO water for Israel to drink, not even bitter water as at Marah. We may wonder why it did not immediately occur to ancient Israel that God was going to do another marvelous work, a supernatural intervention. After all, that’s what He had done for the past several weeks every time they met a new danger or challenge. Also, let’s remember that Israel was enjoying FOOD every day. Their food represented an on going miracle, because God had already started supernaturally providing the bread from heaven as He had promised. Obviously, Who and What God is was NOT at the center of their thoughts. They rebelled in their thinking, then in their hearts, and in their words, and behavior.
Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out My hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
The mistakes made by ancient Israel are utterly clear to us in hindsight. Let’s be sure we keep God and His marvelous works in the forefront of our thinking and deep within our hearts, so our words and actions will be pleasing to Him.
God bless us all toward this endeavor of keeping Him always in our thoughts!
Ben Faulkner, Pastor
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