They Drank From

The Spiritual Rock

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ, Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immortality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:1-11

What is our attitude towards the classic children’s Bible stories. The danger for us, as adults, in telling the stories to our grandchildren is how we treat those stories. If we treat them as stories for children, we miss the point. The stories of the Bible were never meant to be outgrown. They are profound lessons to be learned from the amazing accounts given in the Bible.

The problems of faith the Israelites faced wandering in the desert are similar to our own life experiences. They mirror the tensions we face daily as we also seek to apply God’s will and ways to the realities of our lives. They teach us the treachery of sin, our desperate need to trust God above all else, and the importance of staying faithful and true to Him regardless of what happens.

Don’t ignore the old stories. You might be surprised what God wants to teach you through them.

Stories from the past can give us pointers for the present.

Our Daily Bread – August 3, 2008