April 21
9So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10He 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?” 11Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12But 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.” (Numbers 20:9-12, The Jesus Bible)
“There’s honey in the rock, water in the stone, Manna on the ground, no matter where I go.” These are the lyrics made famous in the wonderful song, “Honey in the Rock” by Brooke Ligertwood. Mrs. Ligertwood’s song focuses on the provisions God provides in a very catchy melody and tune. And while God did provide for the Israelites over and over in their journey to the Promise Land, the song leaves out the other truth as described in the Book of Numbers: each provision came with a cost, and never without the Israelites grumbling for it in the first place. As you see in the verse above, God reminds Moses and Aaron that due to them not “trusting” God, they will not be brought into that land He had promised to them.
This becomes a stark contrast to what I just wrote yesterday: where God guides, He provides. Sure He eventually provided water to the Israelites, but not until they got to the point that they were complaining about their thirst. Of course, whenever the Israelites run into a need, they couple it with a want, which is seen in the verses before this when they complain that, once again, when they were in Egypt, not only did they have water, but they also had “dates and pomegranates”. But water is a much different need than asking for a different flavor of food to eat as they did when they had grown tired of just eating Manna and longed for some meat to satisfy their hunger. We all need water to survive, and God knows this, as He created us, so why did it take the Israelites to be at a point of crucial necessity before God provided a basic need for survival? And why punish the Israelites even more when they are asking for provisions just to survive?
My answer to that is that I thank God for bringing us Jesus, to teach us that His word is the living water, and when we drink His word, we will never thirst again. Jesus is also the bread of life, covering all the sustenance we need to survive: water, bread, and the air we breathe (the Holy Spirit). Because of His love and forgiveness, we will always have everything we need. We live in the Promise Land, Planet Earth, but even more specifically, most of you reading this live in America, where everything you need is just a trip to the grocery store away. We, humans, have complicated the process of living on planet Earth over the years and constantly create things to destroy a world flowing of milk and honey. We bulldoze the natural world to build up concrete jungles. We ignore science and continue to pollute to roll the dice on how long we can survive a rapidly warming planet. We stock warehouses full of food just to send the expired excess to landfills, while 10% of the world’s population lives in hunger. According to Action Against Hunger (an A+ Charity organization according to Charity Navigator), 45% of child deaths worldwide are due to hunger and related causes. 45 percent. That is a huge number. That is an inexcusable number to allow to happen in our current state of prosperity as the mighty “Christian” nation. We can all do better. We can all do something to help those in need.
So I am posting the link for you all to click and give something to. Whatever you can afford. This is Earth Day weekend, the celebration of God’s gift to us as mankind. Let’s all step up this weekend and be a provider of the miracle someone in this world desperately needs.
https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/take-action/make-a-gift/
Cade Thompson released a fun, energetic album last Friday featuring songs such as “Arms of Jesus”, “One Prayer Away”, “Tears”, and many other great pop-infused melodies, but my favorite is the song below “The One”, which is a powerful reminder of the lengths Jesus went through to save our souls.
Common Sense Reborn 