Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. Numbers 20:10-13, ESV.
God tells Moses to speak to the rock and give the congregation water. Moses chooses instead to rebuke the congregation, speak as though the water from the rock was his own doing, and strike the rock. Yet God does not say, “ Moses, you did not follow instructions.” God says, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” Let’s be honest. Many of us have read this passage and wondered why God was so hard on Moses. Sure, Moses’s attitude was a bit off. And he did fail to obey the letter of God’s command. Of course, he did not glorify God as much as he should have. Who doesn’t occasionally slip up in our attitude, obedience, and worship? It seems like losing access to the Promised Land is a pretty high price to pay for not being perfect. We want to forget that God’s standard is holiness and that God knows the hearts of men. Moses quit trusting in God when he grabbed the staff, rebuked the people, and struck the rock. He quit trusting God and he held up himself as holy instead of holding God up as holy. In other words, Moses was fed up with his circumstances, assumed he was the offended party, believed that he deserved better, and doubted that God would ultimately come through. Humble Moses in verse 6 had become arrogant and angry Moses in verses 10-11. How do you react when God does not provide in the way you think He should? When your income does not meet your expenses, your kids act out in rebellion, church services leave you dry, your spouse does not show you the affection you think you deserve . . . how do you react? There is a lot of Moses in us, isn’t there? Praise God, Jesus has purchased an eternal Promised Land for all who trust in Him. Nonetheless, we, like Moses, may miss many blessings in the meantime unless we repent of our faithless thoughts and deeds. I am praying for you. Pastor Don Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. Numbers 20:2-9, ESV.
If you were to make a list of the things that bring you satisfaction in life, what would be on that list? If you had to rank these satisfying things in order of importance what would show up at the top of the list? If the answers are not easy to come by, perhaps it would be good to take this exercise from the hypothetical to the real—and do it even before you read on. As they traveled in the wilderness, a journey God sent them on as punishment for their sin, the Israelites noticed that the things that brought satisfaction were missing. Because there was no water, they would not be able to grow figs, grapes, and pomegranates. Their cattle would not survive. Not to mention that there would be no water to drink. Satisfaction for Israel came in the form of water Now, this sounds pretty reasonable. After all, man can survive only a few days without water. And farmers know you cannot grow crops without water. Their griping sounds reasonable until you consider two other factors. First, since they first entered the wilderness, the Israelites have been complaining about being taken out of prosperity in Egypt and not brought immediately into “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Numbers 16). Egypt was a land of prosperity, but not for them. They were slaves in Egypt. They were brought to a land of milk and honey but, because they did not trust God, they were sent to die out in the wilderness. They redefined the past to make it sound better than it was. They assumed that they deserved only good from God’s hand. They ignored the fact that their situation was the result of their own sin. Any of this sound a little too familiar? Second, they are acting as though God does not dwell in their midst. God who is the Creator, the Sustainer, the giver of all good things is right there with them. Instead of praying to God and asking for His gracious provision, they complain. Their complaints are always directed at Moses, but they are really complaining about God, that He has failed them. How sad that we as Christians often do the same! The church has failed me. The pastor and deacons have failed me. My husband or wife has failed me. My job has failed me. God dwells with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. When we grumble in dissatisfaction, we are declaring that God has failed us—not given us the good we deserve. What satisfies you? Do you look to your circumstances or your God? My prayer is that the presence of God will find its way to the top of your list today—that you will be satisfied with Him and trust in His goodwill for your circumstance. Pastor Don Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. Numbers 19:11-13, ESV.
One of the most revealing things about our faith is the way we think about death. In Numbers 19, God made it clear to Israel how they were to think about it. The person who touched a dead body was declared unclean and not allowed to come into God’s presence in the tabernacle until they had washed. Death is such an intimate companion of sin that when an Israelite encounters death up close it leaves the stain of sin on them. Death is the consequence of sin. Were there no sin, there would be no death. While specific sins are not always the immediate cause of death, like it is when a drug abuser dies of an overdose, sin is always the ultimate cause of death. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, death became every man’s end. Paul writes, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and that “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). It is time for us to understand death rightly. We must see death as an enemy to be defeated (1 Corinthians 15:26). We must not minimize its sting in our effort to make the grief associated with it go away (1 Corinthians 15:55). Instead, we must look to Jesus, our Savior. He willingly faced death head-on as our representative and came out victorious, walking out of His tomb. For us to understand the magnitude of Christ’s accomplishment and celebrate the joyous victory we have over death in Christ, we must first see it as the sin-infested enemy that it is. It is my prayer for you that you will be strengthened to face the reality of death, be it your own or that of one you love, with the joy and hope that belong to all who rest in Christ. Pastor Don |
From Pastor DonWriting about the Bible and praying that it will be of some good for someone. Archives
June 2021
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