A camp without water !

Friday August 18, 2023

A camp without water !

“The whole community of the Israelites departed from the wilderness of Sin... at the command of the Lord ; they encamped at Rephidim, but there was no water to drink.” Exodus 17. 1 New Version Bible Segond

God was leading His people through the desert with a pillar of fire by night and smoke by day. He knew where he should spend the night or set up camp for several weeks. He decided all the steps. Why then did He bring His people to Rephidim, a place where there was no water ? Why make him establish a camp in such a place ? Was God wrong in His plans ? Is this how you feel when you find yourself in a humanly hopeless situation ? You have been obedient and you have prayed to God to protect you, to support you, to provide you with everything you need, but you find yourself in a desert where the water has disappeared. This stage had however been decided by God to test, once again, the confidence that the Israelites had in Him. Barely 6 weeks had passed since the crossing of the Red Sea and already the people were ready to protest against God... and Moses. Not only did the Israelites no longer trust Him, but, more seriously, they questioned God's goodness towards them by saying to Moses : “Why did you bring us out of Egypt ? Is it to make us die of thirst here, with our children and our flocks ?” When you stop trusting God, you actually think that He is unable or perhaps unwilling to provide for you, and so you implicitly stop believing in His goodness. Ultimately God views this as rebellion. And yet, because He loves you, He is willing to ignore your rebellion and provide you with what you need (v. 6). What is most extraordinary is not that God provided water to His people despite their aggressive words, but that He did not turn His face away from them: on the contrary He declared that He would be present on the rock when the water would flow from it (v. 6) ! If you find yourself in a “camp without water”, do not reject Him, but on the contrary believe that He will intervene and meet your physical as well as spiritual needs !

Source (His Word for Today)