Gushing Grace

“Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.”  Exodus 17:6

You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip (though you can make some awful-tasting veggie juice), and you surely can’t knock water out of a rock. If you could crack open a stone that happens-t0-be-hollow, the few drops you might find inside would never be enough to fill the canteens of a million-plus people.  But that’s exactly what God did through Moses when the Israelites were thirsty.

^“The Lord answered Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink’”(Ex 17:5-6).

We would have searched for a stream, a spring, a palm-lined oasis—not a dry, hard rock.   A stone wall seemed to be the least likely place for provision, but it turned out to be the only one.   Whether the God of all creation tapped into an already-existing aquifer or whether He right-then formed the drops that fell matters not.  What we need to know is that God did what no one else could do and supplied what no one else could give—refreshment for thirsty, complaining pilgrims.  

The story is new to none of us.  I remember the Sunday School posters of a wild-haired Moses standing by the rock, trusty staff in hand, watching water flow from the crack toward the ground.  But what poured forth that day was much more than a trickle.   Life’s basic necessity came cascading down in a torrent of divine supply.  “He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; He brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers”(Ps 78:15-16).  Dry mouths were moistened and heavy hearts made hopeful by the gushing grace of a powerful God.

Refreshment is always available for thirsty, complaining pilgrims. The Source stays the same—“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink’”(Jn 7:37), but sometimes God chooses the least likely spigots (or spickets, if you’re from the South) to stream His grace. Who would have looked for a giant-slayer in a sheep pen?  Who would have picked disciples at the fishing dock?  And no one would have chosen Bethlehem.  

Stay thirsty, my friends, and let God be your constant refreshment—even in the least likely of places.

Sweet Daily Grace

“They said to each other, ‘What is it?’” Exodus 6:14

Sometimes I feel a lot like God, but it’s not when I’m actually doing right or being good.  It’s when my kids come to dinner, take one look at the dish before them, and ask, “What is it??”

The Israelites’ voiced the same question the morning after their grumbling as they stood outside and stared.  Covering the ground was something small, white, and sweet.  “They said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was”(Ex 16:14-15).

The nickname stuck (“manna” actually means “What is it?”), and for the next forty years so did the frosted flakes.  (I didn’t make that up.  Exodus 16:14 says manna was “thin flakes like frost.”  My husband is certain it tasted like Krispy Kreme donuts; I lean toward graham crackers!)

The divine instructions for the delicacy were simple—pick up what you need for today and trust God to provide for tomorrow.  Bake it, boil it, but don’t hoard it.  (Those who did so woke up to a maggot-infested mess!)   The people had to get out and get it early because manna melted away in the heat of the sun, but each day for four decades breakfast was always waiting when they awoke.

“What is it?” they asked the first time they saw it, and the answer never changed.  It was grace—sweet daily grace.  Bread from heaven showered on earth to strengthen and nourish God’s people in need.

Manna still falls every morning—grace for the day waiting in words from the Word, the words of a friend, the lyrics of a song, the warm of the sun, or simply a smile from someone we love.  It is bread from heaven sent by the true Bread of Heaven to strengthen and nourish as we need.  

God’s mercies are new every morning, and His faithfulness lasts forever.  He supplies for today and desires that we trust Him to provide for tomorrow.  Embrace, enjoy, but don’t hoard.  Pass on the grace you’ve been given, and help others see more of God’s glory.

Sweet daily grace is more certain than the sun.  Without it, we couldn’t survive.  With it, we are able to thrive.  We don’t have to ask—we know what it is.  Give thanks and take it in.  Every single day.