Drinking From the ROCK

 

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago.  All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.  In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.  All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water.  For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.  

1 Corinthians 10:1-3

In Exodus[1] we read the story of God’s children out in the dessert, thirsty and with no water in sight.  Their complaints were against Moses, but reached God in Heaven, and the Lord instructed Moses to strike a rock.  In answer to Moses’ stick hitting the rock, God provided a gushing fountain in the middle of a wasteland.

That moment was a harbinger of things to come…a symbol of God’s providence, miracle after miracle, until His promises all unfolded two thousand years later, at a cross on the town garbage dump, and a borrowed, but barely-used tomb. 

I have a memory (and a photo buried somewhere in thousands of old pictures) of a visit my family made to The Dessert of Maine in the 1950’s.  One would not expect to find a slice of the Sahara in New England; the Tuttle family didn’t either.  They bought that small farm in 1821, and the family abandoned it in 1890[2] because, lacking understanding of sustainable farming depleted the soil, and the underlying sand basically rose-up to cover whatever was left of their orchard.  The treetops are covered by the sand to this day.  The photo was of me, ten-years-old, lying on that sand, tongue hanging-out, watching my handful of sand fall through my fingers.  It was (and remains) my mind’s image of what it’s like to die of thirst.

There are many things necessary to human life, but food, water, and breathing are the most critical.  Wastelands are places where life has lost its way.  And the metaphor of a dessert as choosing a sinful, rebellious lifestyle is a precise descriptive of what Israel chose in the wilderness…dying of thirst for spiritual life.  They were angry at Moses, angry at God, and unable to see how parched their souls had become. 

It was going to be a long 40 years in that dessert!

For You Today 

Providing an unending water source, more than the former slaves could drink, bathe-in, or irrigate a thousand generations of corn fields, was just the beginning of seeing the gracious hand of God give all humanity the greatest of gifts, the salvation of souls.  Those Israelites drank from the rock, and He’s still giving living water today.

So, are you thirsty?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  Following the Truth  or  The Rock of Our Salvation       

Title Image: via Pixabay.com    Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Exodus 17:1-5

[2] Read about the Dessert of Maine

Craving Spiritual Milk

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Monday, October 29, 2018

So get rid of all evil behavior.  Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.  Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation.  Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.  1 Peter 2:1-3(NLT)

Peter said God’s requirement for followers of Jesus was to put aside deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.  (Boy, some people would have nothing to do!)  

That phrase “putting aside” is in the Greek aorist tense.  It indicates something that is done “once-for-all”.  It’s like taking off a garment, laying it on the ground, and never again picking it up.  In other words, we don’t just cut-back on our maliciousness and hypocrisy – we give it up altogether! 

Now, Peter wasn’t saying this just to lay out some rules, so preachers would have something to rant about during revivals.  There is a purpose to laying aside all that trash kind of behavior; the purpose is to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ. 

If we are to become an exemplary part of the Body of Christ it will mean laying-aside all self-centeredness.  I have known some saved people who are mean-spirited and just plain “hard to get along with”.  Instead of letting the grace of the Lord Jesus transform them into mellow and gracious people, it seems the longer they live, the more demanding they become.  They make life miserable for everyone around them.

How can you prevent that?  You can do what Peter said: 

You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.  1 Peter 2:4-5a(NLT)

The phrase coming to Christ indicates an habitual approach.  Peter said we are to grow by [habitually] taking in the sincere milk of the Word.  That’s how babies grow…they take in nourishment at every opportunity.  They eat habitually! 

So here is a question for you:

Is prayer and Bible study habitual with you?

As a pastor I have often been in the privileged position of watching the last number of months, days and hours of people who are getting ready to exit this world.  One of the surest signs that the end is near is when the person refuses food.  An appetite is required for health. 

My friend, if you want to be true to the Lord Who died for you, your appetite for growing as a disciple needs to be fed.  If you don’t feed it, it is a sign that you’d rather live closer to spiritual death than robust Christian life! 

For You Today

This daily devotional is more like a spiritual snack than a full, hearty meal.  If you want to be like your big brother, Jesus, spiritual food and spiritual exercise are necessary on Monday through Saturday, not just Sunday mornings.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com