Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has a perfectly good explanation for why he awkwardly reached for a water bottle during his Tuesday night response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address: It was a message from God.

Throughout Rubio’s delivery of the Republican response to Obama’s speech, Twitter users noted that he seemed parched. And then the social media site erupted when the Florida senator finally paused his speech to sneak a sip of water from a bottle sitting far enough off camera to make the reach seem uncomfortable.

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The next morning, ABC News host George Stephanopoulos asked Rubio about the incident.

“I needed water, what am I going to do, you know?” the tea party Republican replied after jokingly taking a swig from another bottle. “It happens.”

“God has a funny way of reminding us we’re human,” he added.

Watch this video from ABC’s Good Morning America, broadcast Feb. 13, 2013.