Psalms 78:15

My Notes

What Does Psalms 78:15 Mean?

"He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths." God splits rocks in the desert and water pours out — not a trickle but as if drawn from the "great depths" (tehomot rabbah — the vast underground reservoirs, the primordial deep). The water from a desert rock flows with the abundance of an ocean. God's provision from impossible sources exceeds what the source should be able to produce.

The "great depths" is the same term used for the deep waters of creation (Genesis 1:2) and the flood (Genesis 7:11). God reaches into the same reservoir that filled the world with water at creation and channels it through a rock in the Sinai. The desert stone becomes a portal to creation's abundance.

Reflection Questions

• 1.What 'rock in your wilderness' looks too small to produce what you need?
• 2.How does knowing God connects small sources to infinite reservoirs change your assessment of your resources?
• 3.When has God produced 'great depths' abundance from an impossibly small source in your life?
• 4.Where are you measuring God's provision by the size of the faucet rather than the size of the reservoir?

Devotional

He split the rock and the desert drank from the ocean floor. The water that came from the stone wasn't a trickle proportional to the source. It was abundance proportional to God. As out of the great depths — as if the rock had a pipeline to the primordial deep, to the reservoirs that existed before the earth had form.

The great depths. The same word used for the waters under creation. The same reservoir that flooded the world in Noah's time. God cracks a desert rock and connects it to the most abundant water source in existence. The rock is the faucet. The great deep is the reservoir. And the desert — which has no business having water — flows with oceanic abundance.

This is how God provides in impossible circumstances. The source looks laughably insufficient. A rock in the desert. A boy's lunch at a crowd of five thousand. A widow's jar of oil. The visible resource can't possibly produce what's needed. But God connects the small source to an infinite supply — and what flows out defies every calculation based on what went in.

If you're staring at a rock in your wilderness — a resource so small, a bank account so dry, a capacity so limited that meeting the need seems physically impossible — the psalmist says: God gave them drink as out of the great depths. The rock was never the supply. God was. And God's supply isn't constrained by the size of the faucet.

The great depths are still available. The same reservoir that watered Israel in the wilderness is the same reservoir God draws from for you. The only question is whether you're looking at the rock or at the God who splits it.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture