One of the hardest things to carry on a long hike is enough water. If there are no places to refill your water bottles along the way, you do not last long. What then could anyone do for a million people who left home in a rush in the middle of the night, without even time to bake their bread?
It was not just a long hike for the children of Israel; it was a journey forty years long. It included mothers and dads, grandparents, children and babies, and cattle, goats and sheep. Supplying water for that size crowd is a problem too big for any department to handle. There were no rivers, no lakes, no springs or fountains. That would make any engineer in the world say, “Impossible!”
It might be good to begin by considering what took the children of Israel into the desert. They got there by crossing the Red Sea, not in boats, but on dry land, because God had told Moses to go ahead and lead them through. They were hotly pursued by their enemy, but God looked after that by putting a cloud behind them so the Egyptians could not see them.
And how did you get here? Because God made you. He made you by His power, when man could only say, “Impossible!” Clever men can make dolls, but not people. And God made you grow too, and He knows what you need. Will you not trust Him for everything you need? The children of Israel had to learn to trust Him for their needs.
Water, cried all those people. We need water! This was true enough, and their need was very real, but why should they be angry at Moses? Did you bring us here to kill us with thirst? they demanded. But since God’s power had divided the sea and brought them through on dry land, surely they could trust Him for water! Yes, and since God has by His wisdom and power created each one of us and brought us through until today, surely He has a plan for us in the biggest problem of all - our sins and eternity. Yes, He has the answer, if we will trust His way.
The people were ready to pick up stones to throw at Moses for bringing them there. They did not stop to think that if God had not already saved them, they would have been dragged back into slavery. Could they not look back at those wonderful miracles and know that He wouldn’t let them down now?
But if God had the answer to their need of water, why did He let them feel so dry and thirsty? That is a very old question. If you are saying, “I know God can get me out of my problem, but why doesn’t He do it?” you are asking a question that is thousands of years old. You see, God wants to show us how very much He loves us, and if He solved all our problems before we felt them, we might live and die like animals without thinking of Him at all. God’s answers to our problems often come in unexpected ways. And His answer to the children of Israel was far more wonderful than they ever guessed.
God’s answer for their problem was given to Moses. “I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb.” The answer was coming, not from earthly springs, but from God Himself. Moses was told to use the same rod which had been used to open up the Red Sea. The command was, “[Strike] the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did just that.
The story does not need to say what happened next, for I’m sure you know. Water! Not a cupful or a jugful but plenty for everyone, because God’s supply is always enough, without rationing or crowding. In fact, if you have read His promise in John 4:1414But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14), you know that Jesus said, “[Whoever drinks] of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” Never! Not that we don’t want any more, but that the supply is always there. Everlasting life does not need renewing; it is an ever-springing well.
I think there was great drinking and splashing and wading and washing that day, and even the cattle slurped their fill. And it did not cost God a lot to give them such a waterfall. But when God supplies His never-thirst-again water for us, it cost Him a tremendous amount - He gave up His only Son for our need. The Lord Jesus Himself became poor for our sakes, that we through His poverty might be rich.
When the Lord Jesus was there upon the cross, He said, “I thirst!” Surely God would supply for His Son abundance of water, wouldn’t He? No, there was nothing given to Jesus but some vinegar on a sponge. No man could ever be poorer than He was that day He died for you and me.
He has gone back to heaven now and is offering to share all His abundant riches with you. The Lord Jesus loves you and really wants you to come, just as you are, right now. The last invitation in the Bible is, “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)).