Summer brings thoughts of pools, lakes, oceans or a glass of thirst-quenching water after a run. This essential element had significance for biblical writers as they lived in parched areas. In Exodus 17:1-7, we read of the miraculous water that flowed from the rock during the time that the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness.

Settle Yourself and Release

Find a quiet place. Take a few deep, slow breaths. Close your eyes. Notice your breathing. Relax your muscles one by one. Notice the dryness or wetness in your mouth. Are you thirsty? Bring the above verse to mind and prayerfully meditate on it.

Encounter: Feast on God’s Word

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

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.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Respond: Consider the Lord’s Invitation

As you read through the passage once more, consider if God is offering you an invitation. Record it in your journal.

Pray:

Pray psalm 63:1 several times out loud, then carry it through your day as a breath prayer.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.