And the
LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly
together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their
eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them
water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts
drink. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And
Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said
unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And
Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the
water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to
sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring
this congregation into the land which I have given them. –
Numbers 20.7-12
Once again I
have to say ‘poor old Moses.’ If I did not believe in the absolute justice of
God I would wonder about what happens here. Moses had led the people for nearly
forty years. He prayed for them. He interceded for them. He led them. He put off
with their griping and complaining.
And now,
when the journey is just about over he blows it. And he blows it so badly that
he is not allowed to enter the Promised Land.
The nation
was short of water again, and, as usual, the people complain. Moses talked to
God nd God said ‘speak to the rock and it will provide water.’ Moses talked to
God about it and God said ‘just speak to the rock and it will provide water for
your needs.’
But Moses
got just a little brash. Who knows why he did what he did next. Maybe he was frustrated
with the complaining. Maybe he had a little flair for the drama. Whatever the
reason he did not just speak to the rock, but he struck it and said ‘do I have
to draw water out of this rock?’
Why is this
such a big deal? It is really simple. Moses disobeyed God. It doesn’t seem like
much, but it was disobedience and because Moses disobeyed he would not be able
to enter the Promised Land. Though it was a tough lesson for Moses it teaches
us the consequences of even one act of disobedience. Moses did not lose his
eternal reward, but disobedience did affect this life. Moses did not obey
because he did not believe.
Our lack of
obedience always comes because we don’t really believe God. We give Him lip
service but we don’t believe Him with our actions.
May I have
the strength of God to believe him and obey him with my actions and not just my
words.
No comments:
Post a Comment