"Do What God Tells You to Do!"

Scripture Read:

Numbers 17 - 20

Insight Verse(s):

^{Numbers 20:6} So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them.

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.”

Insight Gained:

God says in vs 8 "Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water;" In verse 10 Moses says to the people "... “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;

When did God tell Moses to strike the rock?

All I saw was God telling Moses to speak to the rock.

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.”

Wow, of all the stupid things you could do... these men have seen God literally destroy armies, part seas, and even kill specific individuals mixed amongst thousands. They have even seen the fire of God come down and engulf 250 people who didn't listen. Why then would Moses make the mistake to portray that it was he, or his staff that had the power, and was owed the glory. God said speak, and they struck... God wants to reenforce that it is he who is looking after the needs of the Israelites and leading them , not Moses or Aaron. Yet Moses chooses to act on his own, even to the point of leading up to it with his comment "Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" Does Moses forget that he is only a shepherd that God has entrusted these people to? He is not God, he is one man and God says, Hey you, with the stick, for being an idiot after all this time and after all you have seen, you will never enter the land I promised to my people! That had to hurt, but what could he expect, God is God, and Moses has felt the power of God, he knows the might of God and he has seen the wrath of God when people don't listen and obey. How much more are we disobedient today, we have the stories of the Old Testament, and the lives of Jesus and his disciples and yet we still choose to go our own way, do things our own way, and then when we don't see the gift we felt we were promised... we blame God.

My Prayer to God:

Lord, father in heaven, designer of my world and director of my paths, please forgive me for all of the times I have not searched out your will but followed my own. Guide me with your words to do your actions to bring glory to your name. Amen.