Living Water — TDW Kids

Is the Lord Among Us?

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At Rephidim the people were thirsty and upset. They asked a big question: “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). You might wonder the same thing when life is hard.

It can feel lonely. When we are sad, sick, scared or left out, we may feel like God is far away. Israel felt that way in the desert.

God was there. The truth is that God was with Israel the whole time. He was in the pillar of cloud, He sent manna every morning, and He stood on the rock (Exodus 17:6).

Don't harden your heart. A psalm later warned, “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness” (Psalm 95:8). A hard heart refuses to trust God.

Today. The book of Hebrews repeats that warning for Christians: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7-8). The best time to trust God is today.

A promise for the brave. Moses later told the people, “Be strong and of good courage… for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Jesus promises too. Before He went back to heaven, Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

A very present help. “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Present means right here, right now.

Through hard things. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:2). God does not always take hard things away, but He goes through them with us.

Nothing can separate us. Paul wrote that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Look back. One way to remember God is with us is to look back. Think of times God has helped you before. Israel had the sea, the sweet water and the manna to remember. You have your own stories of God's help.

God with us. When Jesus was born, He was called Immanuel, which means God with us. God came to be with His people in person.

Talk to Him. Like Moses, we can cry out to God when we feel alone. The Bible says to cast “all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

What to do. This week, when you feel alone or afraid, say out loud, “God is with me,” and pray one of these promises back to Him.

“Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7) is the root question of the wilderness complaints. It doubts both God's presence and His goodness.

Presence and proof. Israel demanded proof on its own terms. Yet the evidence was all around them: the pillar, the manna, the sweet water at Marah. Unbelief often ignores evidence God has already given.

Massah remembered. Deuteronomy 6:16 commands, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah.” Jesus quotes the verse when the devil urges Him to force God's hand (Matthew 4:7). Trust does not manipulate God.

Psalm 95. This psalm, used in worship, turns Massah into a warning: “When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work” (Psalm 95:9). Seeing God's work does not guarantee a soft heart.

Hebrews 3. Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 and insists on its present force: “Today, if you will hear His voice.” The wilderness generation becomes an example for the church to avoid.

The covenant promise. Deuteronomy 31:6 grounds courage in God's presence: “He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 applies the same promise to believers.

Immanuel. Matthew's Gospel begins with “God with us” and ends with Jesus' promise, “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). The question of Massah receives its fullest answer in Christ.

Presence in suffering. Isaiah 43:2 promises God's presence “when you pass through the waters,” not exemption from them. Psalm 23:4 says, “I will fear no evil; For You are with me.”

Security in love. Romans 8:38-39 lists every conceivable threat and concludes that none can separate believers from “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Remembering as a weapon. Israel's failure at Massah was partly a failure of memory. Psalm 95:9 says they tested God “though they saw My work.” Rehearsing God's past faithfulness is one of the main ways Scripture teaches believers to resist unbelief.

Honest cries are not testing. Moses' desperate prayer in Exodus 17:4 was not testing God. The difference is between bringing need to God in trust and demanding that He prove Himself on our terms.

The church's wilderness. Hebrews 3-4 treats the Christian life as a journey between redemption and final rest. Like Israel, believers live between promise and fulfillment, where trust is tested daily and God's presence must be believed rather than always felt.

Application. Memorize one promise of God's presence this week, and when you are tempted to ask, “Is God with me?”, answer with that promise.

The Rock Was Christ

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Hundreds of years after Moses struck the rock, the apostle Paul wrote something amazing about it. He said the rock pointed to Jesus.

Paul's words. “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus was with His people even in the desert.

A struck rock. The rock had to be struck before water came out. Jesus was hurt on the cross so that we could have life. Isaiah wrote, “He was wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). The rock only needed to be struck once, and Jesus died only once. Now we can come to Him and talk to Him freely.

God is our Rock. David sang, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer” (Psalm 18:2). A rock is strong and safe.

A thirsty soul. “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). Deep inside, everyone is thirsty for God.

A woman at a well. Jesus met a woman at a well and said, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst” (John 4:13-14).

Living water. Jesus said the water He gives “will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

Come and drink. At a big feast, “Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink’” (John 7:37).

Rivers inside. Jesus promised, “He who believes in Me… out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). We drink by believing.

Free for everyone. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come” (Isaiah 55:1). You cannot buy this water. It is a gift.

Water from the struck Rock. Psalm 105:41 says, “He opened the rock, and water gushed out; It ran in the dry places like a river.” What came from the rock was not a trickle but a river. Jesus gives life generously too.

The last invitation. Almost the last words of the Bible say, “Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

What to do. The next time you drink a glass of water, thank Jesus for being the Rock who gives living water.

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul uses the wilderness story to teach the church about Christ.

The context. Paul reminds the Corinthians that Israel “all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink” (1 Corinthians 10:3-4), yet many fell in the wilderness. He uses Israel as a warning against presumption.

“That Rock was Christ.” Paul identifies the source of Israel's provision with the pre-incarnate Christ. The Son was present with His people in the wilderness, sustaining them.

The struck rock. In Exodus 17 God stands upon the rock and the rock is struck. That Rock was Christ, the Messiah whom Isaiah describes as “stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4). It was struck once, and afterward was only to be spoken to (Numbers 20:8), just as Christ was offered once for all (Hebrews 10:10). From His suffering comes life.

The Lord my Rock. The image of God as a rock runs through the Psalms (Psalm 18:2; 62:7). It speaks of strength, refuge and reliability.

Thirst for God. Psalm 42:1-2 uses thirst for spiritual longing: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Physical thirst at Rephidim mirrors the soul's deeper need.

John 4. Jesus contrasts well water with “the water that I shall give,” which becomes “a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

John 7. At the Feast of Tabernacles, which recalled the wilderness years, Jesus invites, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). John explains that He spoke of the Spirit whom believers would receive.

Free grace. Isaiah 55:1 and Revelation 22:17 frame the invitation as free: “without money and without price,” “take the water of life freely.”

Plenty, not scarcity. Psalm 78:15-16 and 105:41 stress how much water came: “streams,” “rivers,” water that “gushed out.” The provision of Christ is likewise overflowing, not rationed.

Paul's warning. Paul's point in 1 Corinthians 10 is not only comfort but caution: those who drank from the Rock could still harden their hearts. Receiving God's gifts is not the same as trusting the Giver.

Water and the Spirit. John 7:39 explains that the “rivers of living water” refer to the Spirit, given after Jesus was glorified. Life flows to us from Christ's suffering, and the Spirit fills everyone who believes. The struck Rock, the cross and the gift of the Spirit belong together.

Application. Read Exodus 17:1-7 and John 7:37-39 together. Note what the people demanded and what Jesus freely offers.

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