In the book of Exodus, we read how the Israelites were saved from God’s wrath through the death of the Passover Lamb, were “baptized” at the Red Sea, and then lived for over forty years in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. At one point on their journey, they came to a place where there was no water to drink, so they complained to Moses, murmured against God, and “put the Lord to the test” (Exodus 17:2).
Psalm 95:8 tells us the reason they were complaining and murmuring: they had hard hearts. Psalms 95:8-9 (NIV) “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.”
What was the solution that God provided to these hard-hearted complainers?
Exodus 17:6 (NIV) I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
God told Moses to strike a rock, and out of it came water for the people. What a unique solution! We might consider digging for water but probably wouldn't think of striking a rock for it. 1 Corinthians 10:4 provides this commentary:
1 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NIV) They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Ah, now we understand! The struck rock pointed forward to Christ, who was hung on the cross and struck to death for us. And from His death flows the river of the Holy Spirit, the Living Water, who meets all our needs.
What is the solution for a hard heart? It is to look to Jesus, see Him being struck and wounded for you, see Him lifted up to die, receive the Holy Spirit by faith, and drink deeply of the waters of life!
Like the Israelites, we have been saved and baptized, and are now living our daily lives under God's leadership. But when times get hard, we might start to think that the message of the cross is no longer relevant. We might think we need something new or more than the gospel. And this is one of the errors that can foster a hard heart - believing that the message of the cross is merely for salvation and not for everyday life.
But the message of the cross is not merely the message of salvation; it is the message of transformation. We are to look daily, to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, to find fresh living water every day at the foot of the cross. There, Jesus was crucified to put your sins to death; at the cross, your record of wrongs, that legal document that was against you, was nailed into the flesh of Jesus, where it was permanently removed from you (Colossians 2:14).