Yesterday, I suggested that despite their singing praises and naming YHWH as their sovereign, all was not Happily Ever After for the Children of Israel. Their capacity to trust God was fairly limited, like many of us, to the immediate and visible. If you haven’t read the entire chapter, I urge you to imagine what could happen in the scene following Today’s Holy Nougat, before reading for yourself.
Exodus 15:22 AFV
[22] And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
Drought
A mere 3 days after the Red Sea victory, a new reality set in. Their supply of water was totally depleted. There they were, successfully over the Red Sea, with an even more serious crisis. The wilderness was not known for the best access to water, and, just like their ancestor Abram (see Genesis 12:1-3), the Children of Israel weren’t exactly sure of their destination. That means they also didn’t know when they would find an oasis.
Siblings, that feels like more pon plenty! Three days and no water! Oy. Remember, it is believed that the human body can survive a maximum of three days without water. If they hadn’t had any water since the Red Sea Rescue, they would be in death throes. And if they had drunk all their water, there would have been some regret.
Self-Check
How do we respond to situations where it seems to be one crisis after the other? Where do we turn?
Digging Deeper
Oh, the irony of life.
When pursued by pharaoh’s army, the Children of Israel were caught ‘between the devil and the deep red sea’. There was too much water for them to survive. Now, there wasn’t any water!
Of course, it wasn’t only about quenching their thirst in the heat of the wilderness. They needed water to cook, for ablutions, for purifying, as well as for quenching their thirst. All those necessities and more would have run through their minds when they discovered that their access to water was gone. They needed a solution, and fast. What should they do? What did they do? Did they worry, did they pray? What happened during that impending drought?
It is easy for us who aren’t walking in the sandals of the Hebrews to assume that they didn’t need to worry. And they didn’t need to, but what would we have done?
We often think of drought as the absence or shortage of water. But drought can also be a metaphor for our spiritual state. Remember that Y’shua is our Living Water (see Isaiah 55:1-2 and John 4:14). Breeches He is our Source, we need to constantly refresh our souls in Him. In times of trouble, in seasons of drought, where do we first turn? Is it to our Living Water?
What do we do after the euphoria of God’s saving grace from the last challenge wears off, and a new challenge presents itself?
Point to Ponder
Read Psalm 63:1. How long can we survive life’s wilderness without our Living Water?
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May all we seek be found in Christ
