YEAR 2, WEEK 3, Day 4, Thursday, 16 January 2025

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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 16 January 2025:

Exodus 17:2 – “Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’”

You test God when you do not trust Him to provide for your needs.

It is easy to act nice or good when things are going well. But how someone acts under pressure reveals the truth of their character and the truth of their relationship with God. Under pressure (stress, fear, hunger, sickness, etc), people are more inclined to become self-centered and to lash out at others if they lack spiritual strength. Relationships start to become more “dog eat dog” – “It’s you and me until it’s you or me,” syndrome. Emotions overcome reason. In this situation, one might say, “He acted out of character;” however, in truth, the person’s true character was revealed. James, chapter 4 explains Exodus 17:2, and relational conflict in general, perfectly: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:1-3)

Quarrels are the product of selfishness and a godless perspective. Even when offended, the Christ-centered Christian understands that God is in complete control and will provide, that the offender is trapped in sin on “knows not what [he does]”, and that it is love that prevails. The mature Christian understands that stress and conflict are tests of faith, revealing the truth of a person’s faith. How do you act under stress and when offended? When tested, pray that you will remain Spirit-led and that God will use that opportunity to reveal to you the truth of your heart. Also, remember this truth when dealing with others. What are the spiritual conditions and emotions behind their offensive behavior? Remember that they are trapped in sin. They are not your enemy; they are your goal for reconciliation. The enemy is the Tempter, Satan. In your relationships, don’t represent yourself, represent Jesus.

Exodus 17:3 – “But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’”

Ultimately, grumblers, complainers, and whiners lack spiritual maturity. They tend to blame their circumstances and other people for their childish behavior, and they tend to avoid personal responsibility with victimization language – “Everything is against me so I can’t do the right thing.” They become catastrophists, making things worse than they really are, and as a result, they sink deeper into ineffectiveness and sin. Your job is to lead them out of their dark place to the light of Jesus. Like a drowning person, they will try to drag you down with them, but remember, you cannot save them if you are struggling in the sea of emotions too.

Exodus 17:6, 7 – “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and 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?”

If the LORD had not stood on the rock, Moses would have struck it in vain. On the other hand, had Moses not struck the water, nothing would have happened. We can do nothing apart from God, but God expects us to do something. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) The Branch can’t bear fruit apart from the Vine, but the Vine doesn’t bear the fruit apart from the branch by design. Too many Christians are waiting for God to empower them to act when He already has – “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness….” (2 Peter 1:3) To many Christians are praying for change when God has called them to be His instruments of change. What are you waiting for?

• Exodus 14:15 — The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.

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.

Exodus 17:10 – So Joshua did as Moses told him.

God expects our faith to give us the confidence to not only obey Him but also to submit to earthly authorities. Christians should model obedience. Question: Do you drive the speed limit on the highways when no one is around or a bit faster because “It’s no big deal.”?

Exodus 17:12 – But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

God’s primary command is love, and with that command as central, He expects us to work together in love to accomplish His purposes. He will intentionally task us in ways that require interdependence. We cannot do what God wants us to do in isolation. How are you supporting the Christians around you? How have you asked for their support to do God’s will? Remember, “Two by two He sent them.”

Exodus 17:14, 15 – Write this as a memorial in a book…. And Moses built an altar….

How are you memorializing what God has done in your life so that your friends and family will never forget?

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 16 January 2025: 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.one