After God’s victory over the enemies of His people at the Red Sea (God won the absolute victory over the enemies of humanity when Jesus Christ died and rose again), He led them on toward Mt. Sinai.

The Israelites had never been IN God’s presence, even though God’s presence with them was evidenced by the cloud and fire that went before them daily since their exodus from Egypt. God did three things to help the Israelites see that He was for them; He was their Protector, their Provider, their Peace. It’s an amazing thing to think that after all they had seen in God’s judgement of Egypt, God making a way where there was no way through the sea, that they would have put “two and two” together.

They came to a place in the wilderness, dying of thirst (they thought) but the water was bitter, poisonous. Here’s a picture of the “water” the world offers to slake our thirst. It is bitter and the end of it is not removing our thirst, but making it more ravenous and ultimately deadly. The people gripe and whine. God has Moses throw in a certain piece of wood, and the water became drinkable. The cross, that hideous piece of wood Jesus Christ died on, can cause even the hardest things in life bearable because He has removed the poison of sin that had infected human life since Adam’s fall in Eden. Life can be lived through in an ever-increasing peace that passes understanding. We can find life becoming sweeter because God has used another piece of wood to take life’s bitterness away for all who will but believe Him.

They ran out of bread and meat, but God showed them that He was indeed their Covenant God and provider. Manna is actually the transliteration of a Hebrew word that means, “What is it?” Every day, they gathered manna and made bread. It was good for the day only, and on Friday, there was a double portion that would last through Saturday, the Sabbath rest for God’s people. He provided quail as well. God’s provision was daily. Daily grace is still God’s provision today. We need grace where we actually are, here and now, today. His presence and daily provision are here for His followers. It can’t be stored up. It can only be received daily, sufficient for the day to satisfy and meet our needs.

Then there was a Rock that seemed to follow them through the wilderness. At first, God told Moses to strike the Rock. When he did, water flowed out of it, thousands of gallons of pure, fresh water for God’s people to drink and wash with. The Rock only had to be struck once. From then on, all Moses had to do was to speak to the Rock and the water would flow. Jesus Christ died once, for all time; a singular, unique, unrepeatable sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. He only died once for sin. His death and resurrection can bring us into an eternal relationship where we can come to Him in conversation (sometimes called prayer) and find His grace, more than sufficient for the day, poured out upon us.

God created us and knows our true needs and has made provision for them. We can trust Him.