"and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." - 1 Corinthians 10:4
Some of you really need this verse from God's word today. All of God's word is useful (2 Timothy 3:16), but I just know many of you because you've kindly shared, and I pray for the hard spots that are before you today. I suppose it's kinda poetic, but it's straight from scripture. So call it what you will.
Ok, here's the deal. This is what today's verse means for your day.
Picture this. You're walking in a wilderness. A very big, dry, hot wilderness. You've been walking in that very big, dry, hot wilderness for quite a while.
You're thirsty.
Very thirsty.
God says, "Hey, there's a rock. Speak to it, and it will pour forth all the sweet, cool, satisfying water that you could ever dream of."
But you're so thirsty and sweaty hot and tired and frustrated and irritated that your will asserts itself over God's word. So you strike the rock instead of speaking to it. Yes, water comes out, but it's bitter instead of sweet. It's hot instead of cool. And it's less than satisfying instead of totally satisfying as God had promised.
This really happened with Moses and Aaron long ago, as recorded in Numbers 20. The key 6 verses are included below after our traditional and heartfelt "Praise God."
And this is what it means for you.
Sometime today, maybe at the start of your day, you're going to reach your limit. Frustrated. Irritable. You'll be in the spot between the proverbial rock and the hard place. The hard place is, well, a hard place. The rock is Christ; (remember today's verse from 1 Corinthians 10:4, "that rock was Christ.")
God's going to say to you, "Hey, there's a rock. Speak to it, and it will pour forth all the sweet, cool, satisfying water that you could ever dream of."
What God means is this. Look at your hard place. Smile. Then look at Jesus, your rock, and then speak to him, (you don't have to yell at Jesus, which is tantamount to striking the rock). You calmly say, "Lord, you're the Lord. Please do something about this."
And he will.
Your job is to believe that he will, to watch him do something about it (in his time!!!), and to chuckle, saying, "Cooooool!"
As in "sweet, cool, satisfying water" like you never could imagine or dream of.
Because it came from a rock.
"and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ." - 1 Corinthians 10:4
Praise God!
Numbers 20:7-12 --
The Lord said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
No comments:
Post a Comment