Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too much,
because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy for
today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect yesterday's
portion of heavenly manna the word of God to keep
us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going
to change all of that. Let's experience God's words today
and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.
Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host, author speaker,
Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Tuesday, August twelve,
twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is Elle David Harris.
I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion
where we give you God's word every single day, and
today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson
study series through the Book of Exodus under the caption
Watcher from the Rock, Water from the Rock. We'll get
into that in just a moment, but first I'd like
to say welcome to you and ask you to go
over to your Daily Portion dot com. Please join our
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At your Daily Portion dot Com. This is one of
the ways that we continue to build faith and fellowship.
Let's go ahead and pray and then we will get underway. Father,
We thank you, thank you for giving us the opportunity
to open up your word. And I pray that we
will listen for your voice, that we will accept your
provision as indeed what it is, your provision, and stop
making up other stuff that we would rather have than you.
And I pray that today we will be watered well watered.
As a person in the wilderness who needs your watering
in Jesus' name, I pray, amen and amen again. Well,
in the wilderness, you need plenty of water. That's what
the lesson writer said, and I agree totally. I wake
up in the morning and I drink within the first hour.
I drink at least forty some ounces as soon as
I wake up, within the first hour, and then I
may drink another twenty before what time for me six am,
before six am, and then I drink multiple times throughout
the day, large portions of water. Because even if I'm
not in the wilderness, I need plenty of water. And
so do you.
Speaker 1: So do you.
Speaker 2: Yeah. In fact, in Jamaica, we say that water is life.
Water is life. So God took care of this problem.
Even though the people were quarrelsome they did not trust him,
and they even tested his ability and willingness to give
them water. In their unbelief, they look back to Egypt.
So we begin now by reading from the Bible Book
of Exodus, Exodus, chapter seventeen, and I'll read verse seven.
And he called the name of the place Masa and
Maraba because of the chiding of the children of Israel,
and because they tempted the Lord, saying is the Lord
among us or not? Let me ask you a question.
Do you have a habit? Really, it doesn't even need
to be a habit, But do you say is the
Lord among us? When you don't get things the way
that you expect, when you are wondering and worrying, do
you wonder and worry about whether God is among you
and your people, your family, the people you work with,
wherever you live, whatever country you're in. Are you questioning
God because you're being tested? Let me read this again
from the amplified version of the Bible. He called the
place Masa test and Maraba contention because of the quarreling
of the sons of the people of God because they
tested the patience of God saying is the Lord among
us or not? And so I've already shown you based
on the amplified version of the Bible, that massa actually
means testing or trial, marabah, marabah, marrabah actually means quarreling
or contention. But now comes the word rock. The word rock,
and we're talking about Hebrew here often symbolizes God's strength, stability,
and provision. So Jesus provides water in the wilderness from
the rock, Jesus being the water of life that he
gives freely, Jesus being the rock. Ha the stone that
the builders rejected, has now become the head of the corner. Yes,
so God has been the stabilizing foundation of the the
Church of God, the people of God throughout the history
of the People of God from Adam and Eve straightforward.
I know what I just said. In fact, there are
some people who believe that Jesus was saying upon this rock,
meaning Peter, he will build his church. That would not
make any sense at all, because if you build your
church on a human, your church is going to fail.
In fact, that same human that people think the Church
of God was built upon had crumbled and failed almost
after right after this discussion about the rock. But it
was the belief that Peter had that he was still
growing and maturing in the belief that you are You are,
in fact, Jesus, son of the Living God, and that
is the rock, Jesus Christ. He is the rock upon
whom the people of God and the institutions of God's
people have been built. He was the rock in the wilderness,
and he is still the rock in our day. And
so in the context, Israel had experienced miraculous manna and quail.
Of course, even though God didn't want them to have
the quail, he needed to teach them a lesson, and
therefore they got the quail, and to the point that
it ran out of it like they had so much
quail that it made them sick. But it was still miraculous.
Their journey brought them to refer them where no water
was found. Instead of remembering God's recent provision they didn't
even have to look back too far. Instead of remembering
that and commemorating that, they complained. So that's the question,
do you complain things don't go your way? Are you
complaining things don't go as you anticipated? Are you complaining
or worse? If you gave God a prescription, he go
to the good doctor who is God, and you write
him a prescription about how your healing must go, healing
of your finances, healing of your relationships, healing of your
physical health, your mental or emotional health. Like, are you
writing prescriptions for God and when He does not fill
them in the way that you anticipated or prescribed, are
you upset with God? Asking is the Lord among us
or not? That is a terrible dangerous situation. And I
really don't care if anybody thinks that's a judgmental mindset
from my perspective, because the truth is, the people of
God were reprimanded for that. They were checked and corrected
for that. God only said that was a lack of faith.
So what am I supposed to say something different than God? No, sir,
I'm not gonna do that, because God has already shown
his perspective on this. And so from the book Patriarchs
and Prophets, page two hundred and ninety eight, it reads,
Moses smote the rock, but it was the Son of
God who veiled in the cloudy pillar, stood beside Moses
and caused the life getting giving water to flow. So
Jesus is the one who was the provider in that moment.
Moses simply did what God asks him to do. We're
talking about the first go around, you see. So when
Jesus was was smitten, oh my, when you read in
Isaiah chapter fifty three, when he was smitten, he was smitten.
He was wilful in that case, was wilful. He gave.
He gave his life so that we can have eternal life.
He submitted himself to that process. And so on the
first go around, when Moses strikes the rock, it was
a symbol of that God's provision. Now the second go
around was a different thing altogether. I won't fast forward
to that. We're not dealing with it today. But the rock,
according to Paul in First Corinthians, chapter ten and verse four,
was Christ Jesus was Christ Jesus. And then I guess
we can apply now for ourselves. Don't test God's love
when the circumstances get hard. Remember what He has done
before for your for our fathers, for people that you know,
for people in the Bible, for you. In fact, he
has done some things that you can remember. So even
when sometimes God's people Murmur. God provides, but his goal
for me if I do God forbid Murmur, is growth,
not indulgence. God isn't just. He's not enabling me by
giving me quail God forbid, but he's saying, Okay, I'm
gonna give it to you, but you need to see
what's gonna happen when I go this way. You want
a king, Okay, I'll give it to you, but you
have to see what's going to happen because you didn't
trust me. So Christ is still our rock, struck once
for all, He provides living water. Make it a great day. Peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
portion with el David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,