WEEK 10, Day 4, Thursday, 11 March 2022

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 11 March 2022:

Exodus 17:6, 7 – “You shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” …They tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The people were thirsty, without hope; they grumbled, they quarreled. “What shall I do with this people?” (Exodus 17:4) The Lord said, “Strike the rock, and water shall come out.” This is another foreshadowing of Jesus. Jesus is the rock who was stricken so we would be saved from a dry, scorched spiritual wasteland and have living water through the Holy Spirit, living water which would flow to and from our hearts –

• 1 Corinthians 10:4 — …and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
• Habakkuk 1:12 — Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord…, O Rock….
• Matthew 7:24, 25 — Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
• Isaiah 44:3 — For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
• Isaiah 41:17-18 — When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
• Isaiah 55:1 — “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
• Isaiah 58:11 — And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
• Proverbs 25:25 — Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. [Good News = The Gospel of Christ]
• John 4:10 — Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
• John 6:35 — Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
• John 7:37-39 — On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
• Revelation 1:15-18 — …his voice was like the roar of many waters…. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
• Revelation 21:6 — And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
• Revelation 7:17 — For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
• Revelation 22:1 — Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
• Revelation 22:17 — The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
• Psalm 18:46 — The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation.

Now, the question is, have you built your life on the foundation of the Rock, and are you being satisfied by the Living Water of the Holy Spirit — “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7)

• Psalm 42:1-2 — As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
• Matthew 5:6 — “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
• Jeremiah 2:13 — …for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
• Jeremiah 17:13 — O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
• Matthew 7:26, 27 – “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
• John 6:43 — Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:19 — Do not quench the Spirit.
• Ephesians 4:30 — And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
• Galatians 5:25 — If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Acts 21:39 – “Paul replied… I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.’”

As mentioned in previous comments, Paul was single-mindedly intent on spreading the Gospel to as many as possible, which guided his response to every situation –

• Romans 15:20 — I make it my ambition to preach the gospel….
• Romans 1:14, 15 — I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, I am eager to preach the gospel….”

Paul risked his life to preach the truth of the Gospel in the Temple — “They [the angry mob] were seeking to kill him” and beat him ruthlessly. (Acts 21:31, 32) Paul’s life was saved by soldiers who arrested him and decided to take him to the barracks. However, Paul appealed with the tribune to let him speak to the mob even more before departing. “Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language….” (Acts 21:40) Wow! Now, that is focus and commitment to the Gospel!

Put yourself in Paul’s shoes: You tried to share the Gospel with some people, and you were beaten nearly to death and arrested. Would you then, rather than simply leaving quietly under protection, turn right around and share the Gospel with those same enraged people again? Hopefully, you don’t have too many people in your life who would rather see you dead than hear you share your faith, but do you have this sort of heart for those who persecute you? When persecuted, do you defend yourself, remain passive, or proclaim Christ? Unfortunately, it takes far less than a bloodthirsty mob for me to regularly lose sight of my calling from God to be His ambassador, making the most of every opportunity (good or bad) to share to Good News. How about you?

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 11 Mar 22: Drink from the living water, do not constrain the living water, be satisfied with the living water, and let the living water flow from your heart to others. Do not build your own dead cistern. Pray for wholehearted Gospel commitment and boldness in sharing the Truth, both for you and for all believers.