People Making You Mad?
Numbers 20:7-12 New King James Version
7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
12 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.”
Here We Go Again
Here we are once again with the Israelites complaining. They are beginning the 40th year, the last year, of their journey through the wilderness. This time they are complaining because there is no water. Do they petition God and ask? No, they just start fussing at Moses and Aaron and claiming they would have been better off in Egypt, where they came from as slaves.
What Happened?
The Lord tells Moses to hold his staff over the rock and speak to it and water will come. Only, Moses was fed up with their constant complaining. Who wouldn’t be after the same negative attitude over and over again. So instead of holding his staff over the rock and speaking to it, Moses does two things. First he hits the rock,not once, but twice, which was not what God told him to do. Second, He gets a little big headed with his anger and says “Must WE bring water for you out of this rock”, like he was somehow partly responsible for water coming forth out of the rock.
Water came out, but the Lord immediately spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them that because of their actions, like the older generation of Israelites, they would not go into the promised land.
Disobedience
There are so many takeaways from these scriptures, but the thing I want to focus on right now is the fact that Moses didn’t do what God told him to do. Sure, He sort of did but not completely. How often do we do part of what God says, or we put our own spin and what He would have us do. Partial obedience is still disobedience. God’s word says that disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23).
The other part of this is that Moses, in his anger, found himself taking partial credit for what only God could do. He disobeyed the Lord in word and in deed.
I’d Be Mad Too
I’ll be honest. If I was in Moses’ shoes, I probably would have done a lot worse. But the Lord put Moses and Aaron in very high spiritual positions and while their anger was justified, they had a responsibility to behave in a Godly way and follow the Lord’s instructions to the letter, leaving out their own feelings and opinions.
Spiritual Responsibility
That is what we are called to do as well. If the Lord has placed us in positions of spiritual authority we have a responsibility to leave our own feelings and opinions out of it and follow His instruction precisely, no matter what anyone else is or is not doing. It’s not easy. We can either do it God’s way or suffer the consequences.
I would hate to know I spent 40 years wandering around the wilderness with thousands of complaining Israelites just to be told at the very end I couldn’t enter into my promised land just because I lost my temper and said or did some things I shouldn’t have.
Ephesians 4:26, Proverbs 18:21, 1 Samuel 15:23
**Lord, thank You for Your word that corrects me and brings Your expectations into proper perspective when I find myself getting off track. I ask that You keep me in line with Your word and Your will for my life. I want what You want Lord. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.**
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