Exodus 17:5–6: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.'”

The natural drive for water is second only to the drive for air; and since our bodies are more than two-thirds water, we cannot survive much beyond 4 days without it. So here the people of God were feeling a very strong urge for water. God had supplied their cry for meat and bread in the last chapter, and now they were crying out for an even more basic need, water. They had hoped for water since they were arriving at a place called Rephidim, meaning “rest stop.” But there was no water to be found. Then God showed Moses a rock and instructed him to strike it with his rod. Miraculously, fresh water flowed from the struck rock to quench the thirst of the people.

Why did God lead His people to a place where He knew there was no water? We can apply the question to our own lives as well: “Why does God still allow dry times to come upon His children?” The simple answer is that God intends to, wants to, promote thirst in His people. God wants for His people to experience dry seasons because it creates thirst, which is a good thing. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, / For they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). He also said, “‘If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Sprit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (John 7:37–39). This is the same “living water” that Jesus promised in John 4:13 to give the woman of Samaria if she would turn to Him as the Messiah. The promise of new life, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is available today to everyone who will come to Jesus Christ, the struck Rock, to quench their spiritual thirst.

“Thank you, LORD, that we recognize that we are dry and You are the only true source of living water. Fill us now we ask in Jesus’ name.”

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Exodus 17 KJV

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 LORDsaid 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?  ⁸ Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹ And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.  ¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³ And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. ¹⁵ And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:  ¹⁶ For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn thatthe LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.