Streams in the Wasteland
I remember well our time in Petra back in 2018. While visiting the library in Jordan, we were delighted that John and Eileen Richardson wanted to take this 2-day side trip. It required us to get up before daylight, take a cab to the bus station, get in a crowded bus with a wide variety of people and ride over a very rough highway on the 6-hour journey to Wadi Musa, the town above the Petra complex.
Wadi Musa means the Valley of Moses. Why this name? We were surprised to learn that the Bedouin here believe Moses and the Israelites spent considerable time at this location during their 40 years of wandering in the desert, long before the Nabatean’s carved their famous structures into the rock walls of the canyon, long before the Romans had an outpost here. Moses’ brother Aaron, the High Priest, is thought to be buried on a hilltop not far from Petra. It’s an amazing place, but amid desert. What is the water source for people or animals in this place?
Again, according to the Bedouin tradition, this is where Moses struck the rock and water flowed from it the second time (and he lost his right to enter the Promised Land). In fact, high up the side of the valley, within the modern town of Wadi Musa, is a rock they believe is the very one. Even today a spring provides water that seeps out from beneath that rock, and through cracks in the rock, providing a water source. As you walk into Petra, just as you draw near to the narrow Siq (canyon) that leads to what is called The Treasury carving (made famous in the Indiana Jones movie) there are other springs that feed a creek, also thought to be water sources provided for the Israelites. We all need water to survive.
What about you? Have you ever needed water while in the desert? Maybe you have, literally, but I’m talking in spiritual terms now. Times when your soul is parched due to some difficult circumstance – maybe sickness, the death of a loved-one, financial struggles, or an emotionally strained relationship. You need spiritual water, the water of life. Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (Rev. 21:6). Have you put yourself in position to access this water? Just as Moses accessed it through a miracle that God provided, so this spiritual water is accessed through the miracle of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we become “in Christ” and as we are “clothed with Christ” (Gal. 3:27) we have his Spirit within, and the Holy Spirit provides comfort and reassurance to us as we rest in the promises of God.
Sin has made life a wasteland, a desert of sorts. Oh sure, there are good times and fun things to experience, but in the big picture life is contaminated with sin, and it eventually leads to death. We hide from it as much as possible, but it’s present and we know it, a shadow that lurks about us, promising gloom and doom for the fainthearted. Wanting refreshment, life-giving water, we thirst for meaning and for hope. Jesus provides both. Drink of his water and know that it will sustain. It will give strength for this journey of life on earth, and then, it provides hope for an eternal future.
As Rexanne and I stood atop a high cliff after a long hike within Petra, we had come to an ancient “high place” where pagan religions made sacrifices to their gods, something forbidden by God to the Israelites. As we looked out over the beautiful Valley of Moses from this spot, I could imagine tents and people spread out below. The Israelites numbered in the hundreds of thousands. How can there be enough water for them all? With God, all things are possible. He provided streams in the wasteland (Isaiah 43:19), that they could be filled and refreshed. He will for you too. Trust and obey the Lord.
Cross Point: “Whoever drinks of the water I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give will become in the person a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
Wadi Musa means the Valley of Moses. Why this name? We were surprised to learn that the Bedouin here believe Moses and the Israelites spent considerable time at this location during their 40 years of wandering in the desert, long before the Nabatean’s carved their famous structures into the rock walls of the canyon, long before the Romans had an outpost here. Moses’ brother Aaron, the High Priest, is thought to be buried on a hilltop not far from Petra. It’s an amazing place, but amid desert. What is the water source for people or animals in this place?
Again, according to the Bedouin tradition, this is where Moses struck the rock and water flowed from it the second time (and he lost his right to enter the Promised Land). In fact, high up the side of the valley, within the modern town of Wadi Musa, is a rock they believe is the very one. Even today a spring provides water that seeps out from beneath that rock, and through cracks in the rock, providing a water source. As you walk into Petra, just as you draw near to the narrow Siq (canyon) that leads to what is called The Treasury carving (made famous in the Indiana Jones movie) there are other springs that feed a creek, also thought to be water sources provided for the Israelites. We all need water to survive.
What about you? Have you ever needed water while in the desert? Maybe you have, literally, but I’m talking in spiritual terms now. Times when your soul is parched due to some difficult circumstance – maybe sickness, the death of a loved-one, financial struggles, or an emotionally strained relationship. You need spiritual water, the water of life. Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (Rev. 21:6). Have you put yourself in position to access this water? Just as Moses accessed it through a miracle that God provided, so this spiritual water is accessed through the miracle of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we become “in Christ” and as we are “clothed with Christ” (Gal. 3:27) we have his Spirit within, and the Holy Spirit provides comfort and reassurance to us as we rest in the promises of God.
Sin has made life a wasteland, a desert of sorts. Oh sure, there are good times and fun things to experience, but in the big picture life is contaminated with sin, and it eventually leads to death. We hide from it as much as possible, but it’s present and we know it, a shadow that lurks about us, promising gloom and doom for the fainthearted. Wanting refreshment, life-giving water, we thirst for meaning and for hope. Jesus provides both. Drink of his water and know that it will sustain. It will give strength for this journey of life on earth, and then, it provides hope for an eternal future.
As Rexanne and I stood atop a high cliff after a long hike within Petra, we had come to an ancient “high place” where pagan religions made sacrifices to their gods, something forbidden by God to the Israelites. As we looked out over the beautiful Valley of Moses from this spot, I could imagine tents and people spread out below. The Israelites numbered in the hundreds of thousands. How can there be enough water for them all? With God, all things are possible. He provided streams in the wasteland (Isaiah 43:19), that they could be filled and refreshed. He will for you too. Trust and obey the Lord.
Cross Point: “Whoever drinks of the water I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give will become in the person a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).