The Story of Water, a Rock, and More Complaining

Numbers 20:1-12

Beth was in the mood for an ice cream soda but all she had was a plastic measuring cup full of mud from the garden. She went up to her mother (who was doing a little gardening for the third day in a row) and said, "Mother, could God turn this cup full of mud into an ice cream soda?"
"Certainly, Dear One," said her mother, "but you had better not ask him to do it."
"Why not?" asked Beth, looking hungrily at the mud.
"Here, let me tell you a story about that while I bury these things," her mother said.
Beth was curious about why her mother was burying the outfits and handcuffs and balloons and electric vibrating missiles that they had found hidden in her parents' room, but she was more interested in hearing the story (and maybe getting some ice cream) so she just stood and watched her mother work while she listened.
And this is the story Beth's mother told:

One day all the Israelites started to complain because they were out of water. They went to Moses and said, "We wish that God had killed us when he killed our relatives! Why did you bring us into the forest to die with our cows? Why did you make us leave Egypt and come to this nasty place? There's nowhere to get seeds, no figs, no vines, and no pomegranates, and there isn't any water."
Moses and Aaron went to the altar and fell on their faces. God appeared and said to Moses, "Take your stick, get the people together, and talk to a rock. It will give you water so that the people and their animals can have a drink."
So Moses took his stick and did what God had told him to do. They got the people to stand around a rock and said, "Listen, rebels, do we have to get water out of this rock?" And when Moses lifted up his hand and hit the rock a couple of times with it, water poured out and the people and their animals hand plenty to drink.
Then God came to Aaron and Moses and said, "Because you didn't believe in me and made me look bad in front of the Israelites, I'm not going to let you into the land where there are rivers of milk and honey."

Beth thought about this for a moment. Then she smiled and ran to dump her mud back into the corner of the garden. All her questions had been answered.