“God provides” is a common theme through the wilderness wandering for Israel. They complain about their backs against the wall at the Red Sea and God provides a path (Ex. 14). They complain that they are going to starve in the wilderness and God provides manna (Ex. 16) and in the same chapter they complained about only having manna, so God provided quail. They then realize they are thirsty and quarrel with Moses because he led them into the wilderness to die of thirst. What does God do? He provides water from a rock (Ex. 17). This theme continues throughout the narrative. With the manna, God only allows them to take enough for the day (Ex. 16:4) as an act of faith knowing/trusting that God will then provide again the next day. God led them in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:21). God provides food, water, direction, and protection while in the wilderness. All he asks is that they follow. This ends up being a huge ask and they struggle to do it.
If you’re familiar with the story of the Exodus, you know that they make it to the promised land and they fail to believe God will provide a way and rebel against Moses and God (Numbers 14). They then are sent back into the wilderness to wander for 40 years till they all die. Will the next generation of Israelites allow God to be God and trust that he will provide, or will they be like their parents?
A water filled rock makes an appearance again in Numbers 20. This time Moses is supposed to speak to it but instead he hits it and misses out on taking the people into the promised land. I bring this second rock up because Paul has an interesting interpretation of the rock. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, he gives warning from Israel’s history (1 Cor 10). Side note, he is writing to Gentile Christians and including them in Israel’s history. Paul warns that simply eating and drinking spiritual food and drink does not guarantee that they will be protected. What we are called to is to faithfully follow God, trusting that he will provide. This is not a passive faith but a very active one. Simply going through the motions of eating and drinking spiritual things does not mean you are saved. A life of discipleship, transformed by the one we follow, is the life to which we are called.
Paul says two interesting things here. First, the rock went with them through the wilderness. Second, the rock that accompanied them was Christ (1 Cor 10:4). In this part of his letter, Paul is pointing to the Lord’s Supper as the spiritual food and drink that they eat. It is Christ that gives them their nourishment, but this nourishment cannot be mixed with food from other sources (10:14-22). The struggle we all have is that we want assurance that our needs will be taken care of. We look to politicians, spiritual leaders, ourselves, etc. When we recognize that it is Christ who goes with us and provides for us, we realize that nothing else in this world can fill us the way that he does. The nourishment we receive from Christ challenges all other offerings of this world. I hesitate to say “idols” because that is easily dismissed since idolatry has taken on more nuanced forms in our world today. Anything we seek nourishment from that isn’t Christ, is an idol. Anything we place our hope in that isn’t Christ, is an idol.
Eradicating the idols in our lives takes work, especially when we do not recognize the idols we worship. This is what makes the Christian faith active rather than passive. It is a continual practice of submission to the one who provides and a relinquishment of all notions of providing for our own security through what we make, how we vote, power we hold onto, and anything else that gives us comfort. That is not to say that any of these things are wrong in and of themselves. We must hold them loosely and make sure they have no hold of us.
I will end where I believe Paul begins this section, 9:24-27:
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.