Today's reading is Numbers 18-23
Numbers 20
At the beginning of chapter 20 we see the children of Israel complaining agian. Once agian they are without water and they complain agianst Moses and Aaron. Moses is given the solution by God, but Moses disobeys.
I notice here a couple of interesting facts, one is that this time Moses was to speak to the rock (a type of Christ which on His second coming he will not be smitten), second is that even though Moses disobeyed God still supplied water.
Moses disobedience is often contributed to his anger and I wouldn't want to dismiss that component. Some suggest that Moses due to the circumstances did what he did before and hit the rock. God was displeased and punished Moses.
In overview, we see two mistakes. First, Moses says He and Aaron were going to get the water. What? God was the one to bring it not Moses and Aaron. We might again blame Moses anger but still, God was supposed to honor God in this time, yet he didn't. The second was, of course, he hit the rock. What faith would it have taken to look at the rock and just talk to it? I have to admit, talking to a rock sounds pretty lame. Hitting the rock that does make sense to me, but that wasn't what God commanded.
What might have happened if Moses had done exactly what God commanded? Instead of throwing a fit, what if Moses had stood in front of the rock and had a prayer meeting? How might that have stunned these people? We will of course never know. I personally think it might have strengthened the faith of many. Yet the people got a second-rate miracle because Moses, according to God, didn't believe.
I wonder what would happen if the people of God lived by the faith God has called us to? Would it make a difference? I think so. So what do we do now? We can't change the past, but we can do our best to live according to God's commands even if they don't make sense to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment