“Tremble, O earth at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.”
– Psalm 114:7–8
Wow. What a picture in Psalm 114:7–8. Like, tremble before God, tremble before God in his presence. Why? Because he turns the rock into a pool of water. Our minds as we read this in Psalm 114:7–8 just immediately go back to when God was leading his people and they needed water. God told Moses, “strike the rock and water will come out.” And he did. God provided this spring of water flowing from rock. It was a miracle and a powerful picture of God’s provision for his people. It didn’t even have to just be struck. When God told Moses later like, “speak to the rock and water will come out.”
Psalm 114:7–8 Reminds Us Of God’s Power
Like, if that were to happen, if you have thousands of people who are desperately in need of water and God says, “speak to that rock and water will come out.” Just flowing out, and it happens. What are you thinking? One, you’re thinking, “I don’t want to receive that water, I want to drink it and I want to relieve my thirst.” Then you’re on your face before God saying, “glory be to his name.”
You are trembling because the God who is able to make water come out of rocks is the God who is committed to providing for you. The God who is committed to sustaining you and satisfying you. Just think about this now in your life, in my life, right now. The God who did that in the Old Testament is the God who is committed to providing for everything you need today.
Huh? Just rest in that. Look to God in this way. Doesn’t this drive us to prayer? Not just to prayer, but to trembling prayer. God, we bow right now in awe of who you are, of what you have done in history, how you have provided for your people. What awes us is not just what you have done, but your promise to do the same thing in our lives today.
Psalm 114:7–8 Leads Us to Praise God
God, I praise you. I think about all that’s going on in my life right now, and you, the God who brought water out of the rock in Exodus, and we read in First Corinthians 10, the rock was Christ. Jesus, you have made the provision of God freely possible, living water freely possible for all who trust in you. I trust in you, and I presume most who are praying right now are saying, “yes, we trust in Jesus.”
The God who provided in the Old Testament is the God who is committed to providing for you today. Does this compel you to tremble in awe before Him?
I pray if there’s anybody listening right now who has not put their faith in Jesus, that today would be the day where they trust in Jesus and find salvation, living water flowing from you into their hearts. Then, oh God, that we would live in this today. God, that we would look to you all day long and find in you, receive from you just flowing joy, flowing wisdom, flowing peace, flowing comfort, flowing life. Just in every way. Flowing love, flowing goodness, and we could go on and on and on and on and on. All these things that flow from you that we need from you.
This Verse Leads Us to Glorify God
We praise you for your provision of everything we need in our lives. So, in light of this, we tremble before you. We glorify you. We praise you, in awe of you, that the God who created the universe, the God who works miracles in the world is the God we’re speaking to right now, that we have the opportunity to speak to all day long today and tomorrow, and in every detail in our life. This privilege you’ve given us is promise of your provision for us. We tremble in awe of you. So we just say, “we love you, God. We thank you, God.” And we just say, “we love you, God. So we worship you and tremble in awe before you. All glory be to your name.” In Jesus name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
