In Exodus 17 there’s a story about Moses and the children of Israel. At this particular point in time, they begin complaining to Moses because they are thirsty. He gets frustrated with the people saying, “Why pester me? Why are you testing God?”. In other words, he accused them of not trusting in God’s provision. They didn’t care…they continued with requests and demands for water.
Eventually Moses turns to God and asks God to get these people off his case. Kind of like when your kids are driving you crazy and you look at your spouse and say, “Will you please take this one before I go insane???” Yeah, like that.
God is patient and tells Moses what to do which involves taking his staff and striking a rock, promising it will produce water for the people to drink. Moses did what he was told and boom! Water from a rock.
Interestingly enough, rocks are only somewhat porous so not a likely source of the amount of water needed to quench the thirst of such a large group of people. Generally speaking, gravel allows the most water through, then sand, then clay, AND THEN rock. But God said it was a rock, not gravel or sand. Anyway, the point is, this is a big deal because water doesn’t normally or easily flow from a rock.
So, a little later in a book called Numbers, God tells Moses something similar about a rock. He says, “Take the staff. Assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron. SPEAK to that rock that’s right in front of them and it will give water.” But Moses didn’t speak. He once again struck the rock. The Message says he “slammed his staff against the rock – once, twice. Water poured out. Congregation and cattle drank.” God still provided water but Moses ultimately didn’t listen.
So, in thinking of this story, I have some initial reactions. First, and already stated, water doesn’t easily flow from a rock. There are much easier ways to get water to flow than from a rock. But I like to think God was trying to teach Moses something here so bear with me. Also, when water flows, it flows FROM, THROUGH and then TO something. The story doesn’t specify where it came from (a miracle) but we know what it flowed through and who/what it flowed to, yes? We also know Moses chose to strike the rock again rather than speak to it as instructed. And finally, we know despite Moses’ misstep, God provided water nonetheless.
DISRUPTION
Many times, love (water) flows as a result of disruption. Moses had to strike the rock, THEN water flowed. I think we learn to grow into more love when our current level of love isn’t working for us anymore. In other words, a disruption in our status quo occurs and makes a demand: either evolve or regress. Yes, regress! The opposite of “to evolve” is “to regress; to diminish; to decrease; to lessen”. There is no such thing as staying the same. You’re either moving forward or backward. In love, there is no neutral.
So what does love have to do with growth? Simple. LOVE IS DISRUPTION. Allowing love to flow through you and to others where it is normally difficult to flow, is hard work. It requires you to be a new you; it requires disruption to your status quo; it requires you to be, think and do differently. Are you up for the challenge?
Jesus was a complete disruption to the culture in which he was born because of His great love.
WATER
I can’t help but think about love when I think about the water in this story. When love flows, often it flows where it isn’t supposed to. That’s what makes the power of love so freakin’ awesome, right? Have you ever met a person that is hard to love? Have you ever encountered a circumstance that challenged your ability to love?
Water…
From…
A…
Rock…
I firmly believe pain and suffering is only transcended by a love like this: A love that flows through and to difficult situations. And when love flows, many times it’s flowing in a situation that doesn’t make sense.
Jesus was also struck…and love flowed.
LOVE
God told Moses to SPEAK to the rock the second time and Moses instead STRUCK the rock. Have you ever defaulted to a previous action simply because it worked before? What if the water (love) isn’t supposed to flow that way? What if there’s a newer, more effective approach? Say for instance, speaking to the rock versus striking it. Nah, it couldn’t be THAT easy! That’s too “soft”. God is a judge! Moses’ mistake here was misrepresenting who God is. And really, what love is. He implied God was angry about His people’s requests for water when the exact opposite was true – after all, water flowed to His people in spite of Moses’ blunder. Doesn’t that tell us all something very important about God’s love for all?
Jesus was already ‘struck’ once. Once and FOR ALL. It’s OK to just speak to Him now.
