Because you did not believe me

Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." – Numbers 20v12

This is one of those passages that I have learned to just accept by faith and the knowledge that God knows best. I know Moses is saved; he is listed as one of the great heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. Here though, we find that what appears as one little mistake keeps him out of the land he worked so hard to achieve.

It is difficult to know exactly what is going on here, but I suspect from the phrase, ‘to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel’ may be the key.

Moses was a leader and a teacher of the people. His example was important. The beginning of James 3 reminds us that teachers are help to a higher level of judgement. In Hebrews 13 we find that leaders must give account for their actions and the actions of those who follow them.

Moses blew it here. In a sense he was no better than the rebellious people. They did not do things the way God wanted them to. As the people watched it might have made sense to some of them that Moses got the water by hitting the rock and stirring up a well or a spring. God’s desire was for them to see His power for only God could give water from a rock that was spoken to.

People are watching us all the time. We are to hallow God before them. When we are in positions of leadership this is especially important because others are watching us and matching our actions to our words.

Moses did not miss his eternal blessing, but he did miss a temporal blessing by his act of disobedience.

I wonder if we ever miss temporal blessings by our disobedience. Amazingly, even though he knew he would miss this blessing, Moses stayed at the task for many more years. He is really quite a guy.