"Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God."—Deut. 6:16.
I TOLD you what sort of place a desert is, and how full it is of stones, and rocks, and sand, and with no water in it. Do you remember how thirsty Ishmael was in the desert, and how God heard the voice of the lad, and sent an angel to lead his mother to a well of water?
When the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, they were in a terrible wilderness. Mount Sinai stood up in the midst, and all round were great rocks of red and black marble, all dry and parched with the hot sun shining on them.
The Israelites grew very hot and sadly thirsty, but they did not pray as Ishmael had done. They grew angry, and said, "Is the Lord among us or no?" Do you not think they deserved that God should show whether He was among them by punishing them for grumbling? That was the way they tempted God. But He was so good and merciful that He pitied them; and He bade Moses to take his rod, and go to the bare, dry rock, and strike it. And when Moses struck the rock, God made a beautiful, fresh, clear spring of water come pouring out of it, so that all the people, and all their cows, and sheep, and goats, and camels, could drink and be refreshed.
Was not that a great wonder? and was not God very kind to them, though they were not good? But you see God was near to help them all the time, and it was very sad that they grumbled instead of praying. Do not be like them. If a thing is hard to bear, don't murmur and grumble about it, but pray, and then you will get help. Either the vexing thing will go away, or you will leave off minding it.
MOSES BRINGING WATER FROM THE ROCK.—Ex. 17:6.
QUESTIONS.
1. Where had the Israelites come from? 2. Who was leading them? 3. What kind of place did they get into? 4. What is a desert like? 5. What was the mountain in the midst of the desert? 6. What cannot be found in the desert? 7. Who was the lad that was thirsty there before? 8. What did Ishmael do when he was thirsty? 9. But what did the Israelites do? 10. What did they say? 11. What would have served them right? 12. But did God punish them? 13. What did he tell Moses to take? 14. What did Moses strike? 15. What came out of the rock? 16. What made the water come out of the rock? 17. Was it not very good of God to give them water? 18. What ought they to have done? 19. What should you do when a thing is hard? 20. Is it not very naughty to grumble?