1 Corinthians 10:1-5 Jesus–The Rock
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 28, 2020 1 Corinthians 10:1-5
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
(Understanding the Text) Paul has been speaking of running a race and how only one of the runners is the winner. He is telling the people that just because they started out with the Messiah as their Savior, it didn’t mean that they would finish saved. They needed to keep their eyes on the Savior and not be distracted from their goal. Now Paul speaks of a past example of people who started out with the “saved” group but were left out in the end. He speaks of the children of Israel leaving slavery. They were all protected under the cloud of God’s presence. They all were baptized by miraculously passing through the Red Sea. They all ate manna sent directly from God to nourish them in a miraculous way. They all drank water that gushed from the rock miraculously, yet not all of them were “saved.”
Paul is speaking to Gentile Christians, yet he says “our fathers” to them. This shows that Paul considered the Gentiles the descendants of Abraham.
(Revelation of God) Paul is drawing direct comparisons between the experience of the children of Israel and modern believers in Jesus. He compares traveling under the cloud of God’s presence to believers traveling under the Spirit’s presence and coming out of slavery. He compares the passage through the Red Sea to being baptized. On one side they were still threatened with a return to slavery, but on the other side, they were safe from slavery. He actually says that the baptism was a combination of the cloud and the sea. In other words, baptism is the symbol of the water, but it is also the Holy Spirit covering us in His love and power. The manna from heaven is the spiritual food of God’s words and lessons for us that we receive daily. The spiritual drink comes directly from the rock-Jesus. This is the life-giving transformative relationship that we have with Jesus. It is the direct connection from God to us giving us life–not just breath but transformation into the likeness of Jesus.
(Understanding the Text) Paul is saying that it is possible to have all the advantages of God’s choice and power available to a person and still end up displeasing God. Paul is saying that we need to remember and put our lessons into practice, or we will fail. It is important to remember that this all goes back to the Corinthians’ arrogance about which apostle they followed, their need to deny their own inclinations in order to serve the needs of their brothers and sisters, and their indulgence of the physical appetites, including sexual perversions. Paul is telling them that they are to live to serve God and each other if they want to please God.
(Application / Prayer) I need to think about this more deeply because there are a lot of lessons here, but I can’t focus today. My application for myself is that I want to have a relationship with You and serve You and please You. I never want to disappoint You. Draw me closer to You and bring my heart to be like Yours. I also pray for joy because I am at the end of winter depression and am feeling pretty down lately.