“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
Exodus 15:2
The First Rock in Marah
God had orchestrated the most miraculous, unimaginable event at the Red Sea to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians, and the Israelites sang their thanksgiving to God for His deliverance. Just three days later, they reverted to complaining again.
After their emancipation, they followed the Lord’s cloud pillar into the barren desert. The Israelite’s entire water supply was empty, and their parched lips found no water to satiate their thirst. They loudly questioned God’s leadership and His ability to meet their needs.
Moses and the multitude of people followed the cloud that guided them to the waters of Marah. Suddenly, he heard a shout, “‘Water! Water!’ echoed along the line. Men, women, and children in joyous haste crowded to the fountain, when, lo, a cry of anguish burst forth from the host — the water was bitter.”1
Even though God, hidden in the cloud, led them to this water, the people did not have faith in Someone they could not see. Thus, they blamed Moses because they could set their eyes on him. “So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” (Exodus 15:25).
Then, after spending more time tromping through the wilderness, the Hebrew people landed in Rephidim. Not a drop of water was in sight. What did they do? They remembered NOT the myriad of miracles God had already worked for them — and complained. Again!
“Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!” (Exodus 17:4). Following God’s instruction, Moses took the same rod that had parted the Red Sea and struck the rock. Water surged forth, quenching the thirst of the entire nation.
Water from the Other Rock in 2022
On another Mara, the Maasai Mara in Kenya, water is just as crucial to the Maasai as it was to the Israelites. Ladies leave their bomas (homes) at 3 a.m. to stand in line to fetch water from an Olare Orok spring. Danger lurks in the shadows of the night, but regardless of the risk, water to support the lives of their families drives them into the darkness.
In the plans to develop Mara Vision Outreach’s2 (MVO) property into an evangelism and educational center, drilling a well was the first order of business in the Olare Orok region, which is located on a rock. In His faithfulness, God, in response to His praying people, worked a series of miracles to accomplish this task.
- Miracle Number One
Friday, April 8, 2022, the miracles began. The drilling rig and big trucks arrived in Talek, adjacent to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, late in the day. While awaiting the MVO president’s arrival, the workers discovered a punctured tire that was losing pressure. The blessing was that they could repair the tire quickly because it happened while they were sitting and waiting.
- Miracle Number Two
MVO pastors Isaac and Peter, who are both Maasai and live in Kenya, said that while they waited, many people asked where all the trucks were going. These two men were able to witness to the community about the MVO water project that will bless the Olare Orok people. When the local people learned the news, tears flooded their eyes because this necessity of life would be so much more accessible.
- Miracle Number Three
By the time the trucks and the MVO team reached the park gate, it was past twilight. It is against the law for vehicles to drive into the park after dark. When the guards learned why we were late and that water would be provided for the local villages, the Maasai guards exclaimed, “GO! It’s okay!”
Miracles Continue to Abound
The crew was instructed that there would be no work until after sundown Saturday evening, and everyone would get a Sabbath rest. The men, trucks, and equipment sat at the site until after Sabbath.
At midnight Saturday night, the well-diggers started to pierce the rock. They said sitting around on our Sabbath was too long for them to rest. Furthermore, the hyenas and lions that prowled during the night terrified them. They heard a lion kill a zebra very close by, so they wanted to scare the predators away with the loud noises that quarrying makes.
By morning they had drilled 140 meters (459 feet), and muddy water gushed from the rock. They continued to drill until the water ran clean, which happened at about 200 meters (656 feet).
The workers were stunned by the power of the pressure pushing the water to the surface. They commented that so much water, roughly 15,000 liters (nearly 4,000 gallons) per hour, that this one well could supply five villages. If a severe drought occurred, the people would still have water even after two years. They also remarked, “In all the years we have worked in the area, this is the highest-producing water well on the entire Maasai Mara.”
God heard the prayers of His faithful people. Just as He presented the Hebrew people with the essential fluid of life, He supplied a small corner of the world with an unbelievable amount of this life-giving liquid. Prayers of thanksgiving were lifted up to the Creator God.
Living Water
Hundreds of years after the children of Israel drank deeply of the life-sustaining water, Jesus asked a lonely Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well for water to drink (see John 4:7). She stood in shock that a Jew would speak to her. Jesus declared, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).
Society had thrown away this woman, so Jesus chose to reveal something significant to her. He stated that to drink the water from Jacob’s well, she would thirst again. Then He said to her, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). At that moment, Jesus presented the gospel message to the Gentiles. The good news of living eternally with Jesus is available to every person who walks the face of the planet.
Call to Action
None of us ever need to thirst again. Will you draw from the well of living water? Will you share it with others?
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
- Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets (Battle Creek, Mich.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1890), 291.
- God’s ever-growing ministry that works with the Maasai and Samburu tribes of Kenya.
