EXODUS 17:5-6: And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of
the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will
come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
The importance of water can never be underestimated. Sixty percent of a lean, adult body is
composed of water. A person can fast from food for 40 days or longer, but the human body can go
only for about 7 days without water even under ideal circumstances.
It’s no wonder, then, that the Israelites were getting desperate. The wilderness was far from ideal. It
was a hot, desert-like stretch of land dotted with huge rocks but little vegetation. Without water they
would quickly perish. So God instructed Moses to strike a rock, and out of this flinty hardness flowed
sufficient water to meet the needs of all the people and their livestock.
The Bible writers later saw this rock as a symbol of Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). In the midst of a sin-parched
life, Christ offers a well of living water that never runs dry, no matter how often we drink from it.
Have you received Christ as your Savior? If not, trust Jesus today and you will never thirst again. If
you want eternal water, come to Jesus who said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him
will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up
into everlasting life” (John 4:14).
THE WORLD OFFERS A CISTERN; CHRIST OFFERS A WELL.