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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as He commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?"
Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where He showed Himself holy among them.
Numbers 20:1-13
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The forty years of desert wandering had begun and things weren’t easy.
The Israelites had been on the brink of experiencing the fullest measure of God’s goodness, goodness that was abundant in the land He had promised them, a land that the scriptures tell us was flowing with milk and honey.
But Israel blew it.
They didn’t trust that God would protect them, despite the opposition they would face in taking over Canaan. They failed to remember and appreciate all that God had done for them in delivering them from the hands of Pharaoh and the land of Egypt and leading them through the wilderness to the promised land, sending manna and quail from Heaven as well as water from a rock to provide for their basic needs. Then, after receiving the negative report from ten of the twelve spies that went into Canaan to check out what was ahead, the people of Israel resorted to faithlessness and grumbling, even believing they would be better off going back to Egypt under new leadership. Their disrespect incensed God who turned away that current generation of Israelites, sending them back into the desert to wander for forty years, ensuring that it would be their descendants and not them who would get to inhabit Canaan.
Well, as we see in today’s passage, it didn’t take long for the Israelites to fail before God yet again as they began their forty year wilderness punishment. Indeed, bad habits are hard to break but within these opening thirteen verses of Numbers, chapter 20, we find that even God’s two most trusted leaders commit a terrible sin before Him, the Lord who had given them the privilege to be in authority over His people. Their failure should serve to teach us a lesson about the importance of humility when it comes to serving and leading in the name of the Lord. Look again at these verses here:
In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"
Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as He commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?"
Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where He showed Himself holy among them.
Numbers 20:1-13
As mentioned prior, the Israelites had been privy to a water-out-of-a-rock miracle before on their exodus from Egypt to Canaan. You’ll remember that they complained about not having any water and in that instance, God had Moses use his staff to strike a rock which then produced more than enough water for the people. It was one of the early wonders God had performed in clear sight of His people who should have obviously known that their Lord could bring water from any place and at any time if it was His will to do so. All they needed to do was trust in Him.
Now, fast forward to the desert region of Zin and the scene in these opening verses of chapter 20. The Israelites had arrived there after God forbade them to enter Canaan and we read where it was there that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, passed away. It was also the place where the Israelite people found them once again desperate for water.
So how did they react to this? Did they get down on their knees and pray to God in a spirit of faith, thanking Him for providing before while asking Him to do so again?
Not even close. For instead, the people of God resorted once again to complaining about their circumstances to Moses instead of simply trusting God to give them when they needed. The scriptures share their words with us as they said:
"If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"
God had delivered them from oppression in Egypt, watching over them and supplying what they needed every step of the way during their initial exodus to the Promised Land. And yet, every single time things got rough for the Israelite people, they started yearning for the past as if the slavery of Egypt was more favorable than walking alongside their God every day.
Well, we see where Moses and Aaron go before God on behalf of their people in regard to the need for water and the Lord gives Moses the following direction:
“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
So Moses and Aaron assembled the people together “in front of the rock” as God commanded but then Moses committed a serious error, one that would cost him and his brother their own opportunity to enter Canaan. For we read where Moses said to the assembly, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?", and then "raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff", an action that caused water to gush “out and the community and their livestock drank".
Now on the surface, it may appear that Moses had done nothing wrong. After all, in the time prior God had told Moses to strike the rock with his staff to produce water for the Israelites but this time was to be different. Moses was supposed to only speak to the rock and God would make the water flow.
We get a hint that things were heading in the wrong direction through the words of Moses to the assembly:
"Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?"
Note here that Moses was implying here that it would be he and Aaron who would be bringing the water from the rock. What he should have said is:
"Listen, you rebels, must God…your God…bring you water from the rock?"
But that didn’t happen and Aaron didn’t move to correct his brother which could have stopped the sin from being committed. And so Moses raised his arm and brought his staff down on rock twice, bringing water for the thirsting people.
After this, the scriptures show us that God wasn’t happy with Moses and Aaron as He says this:
"Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
In the blink of an eye, Moses and Aaron had also lost their chance to enter Canaan meaning that at the end of the forty year wilderness wandering judgment, the Israelites would enter the Promised Land under new leadership who we know will be Joshua.
Friends, this passage offers us a serious lesson in the criticality of humble submission to God, especially as it applies to our service to Him. For we see over and over again in the Bible that God is willing to do His awesome, powerful work through ordinary people but He is the One who is to always receive the glory and honor and praise in any and all circumstances. If we do anything good through Him it is because He willed for that good work to be done and played the main role in it happening. We were just instruments He used and we need to see it that way lest we begin to take credit where it’s not due.
One thing is certain. The more we intentionally obligate commit ourselves to serve the Lord in our lives, the more He is going to use us to do His work here on earth. We can trust in this and it reminds me of something I have always shared with people who want to enter into the Lord’s service. For when we make that kind of commitment, you can be guaranteed that the Lord will employ you full time...with lots of overtime. In fact, the more you feel the Lord leading you to do is a sign that you are serving Him correctly. He wouldn’t use you for His amazing purposes if you weren’t pleasing Him with your obedient submission to His will.
Unfortunately, we see the consequences of not being compliant with what the Lord commands in today’s scripture passage and see that there can be harsh consequences for stealing away God’s glory. So as believers, we need to understand that if we’re not careful, the same thing can happen to us for we could find ourselves taking credit for things that God is doing, receiving praise that should belong to Him and Him alone.
To prevent that, let’s make sure we give the Lord all the recognition and acclaim, placing Him in the forefront where He belongs. And as we do this, we can simply assume a place of subordination and humility, being grateful that our God would choose to associate with us, the sinners that we are, to accomplish any good thing.
In the end translation, it’s a rich privilege and blessing for the Lord to allow us to partner with Him, especially in sight of the truth that He can do anything without us. Now and forever, let us give thanks to God.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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