DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Our Great SOURCE-erer
by Mary Kate Hipp
There seems to be an evident theme of water throughout Scripture. In the beginning, God calmed the waters (Gen 1:2), He caused the flood to come and to cease (Gen 7-8), and the Psalmists and many prophets akin the rain of Israel to the goodness and provision of the Lord, skipping to John 4 Jesus proclaimed that He is the Living Water, in the book of Revelation we read that a river of life will flow from the throne of God (Rev 22:1-7) and so on and so forth. So it is no surprise to me that the first plague in Exodus 7, has to do with water. Now the Egyptians worshipped a god of the Nile, Hapi. From this river, they believed to receive life. In some sense, the Nile did in fact bring life, it was a critical lifeline to the desert land. Hapi was believed to be the god who flooded the Nile each year, allowing for the Nile to nourish the land, their crops, and their livestock, bringing prosperity. You get the point, to the Egyptians the Nile was everything.
We, however, serve the one true God who is everything. In the first plague, God proved this point by destroying the Egyptian's supposed source of life. Even after the Nile was destroyed, the Egyptians ignored the power of God and again they went searching for a different water source, digging in the ground, scrounging for water, and rejecting the Lord. When will we learn that God alone is the giver of life? Anyone who drinks from this water, the Nile, will thirst again. But whoever drinks from the water that the Lord gives will never thirst again. That water will become a well of water springing up in whoever drinks from it for eternal life (John 4:13-14).
Sure, the magicians and sorcerers could mimic this plague but they could never quench our thirst. God alone is our SOURCE-erer (forgive me for this terrible pun). Anyone who seeks life or hope from anything other than the Lord will surely thirst again. Our silly little idols and other gods will never stand against the power of our God. He alone is our critical lifeline in this dry and thirsty world. He alone nourishes us. He gives us just what we need. So, may the Lord cause us to thirst for Him.
Lately, I have been struck by how often the Lord says "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." Nearly one hundred times is this phrase written throughout Scripture. When the Lord repeats something it tells me, "This is important." Our reading from today is from a time when the Israelites had yet to be brought out of Egypt. I think part of remembering that the Lord brought us out of Egypt is that we remember Egypt, we remember the hardship, we remember how He overcame, how He did not leave us in our suffering.
We MUST remember what the Lord has done. He has delivered us from Egypt. He set the captives free. He destroyed our idols. He canceled our debt. He conquered the grave. Far be it from us to ever forget that He meets us in our suffering and He is faithful to deliver every time. Only He who is the source of life, the Overflowing Well, the Living Water, could do this. He delivers. Nothing and no one else is capable of this! So trust in Him, thirst for Him, rejoice in Him.
PRAYER
Lord, we want to thirst for you. Create in us a thirst that drives us to our knees. May you bring destruction to our "Niles." May you be rightly enthroned in our lives. Unharden our hearts. Cause us to remember your goodness and your faithfulness. We love you, Lord. Amen.
