And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight
in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22
I’ve thought often about Moses not being able to enter the Promised Land
and how he disappointed the Lord so much when he struck the rock,
and twice
The Lord had directed Moses to speak to the rock
Instead of obeying God and speaking to the rock,
Moses struck the rock, twice
That was what caused both him and Aaron to not enter the Promised Land
Doing things his way
Not letting God be God was the issue
Oftentimes we expect God to work the same way as He did in the past
We cannot push God aside and use His power
The first time God provided water from the rock
was when Moses struck the Rock with his staff
This time, in Numbers 20,
God said, Take your staff and speak to the rock
Moses struck the rock, not once but twice
and he added that they were rebels
Water still gushed out from the rock
And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
And did all drink the same spiritual drink:
for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them:
and that Rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:2-4
God didn’t stop the complaining Israelites from going to the Promised Land but he did stop Moses and Aaron and here is why,
this is exactly what God said:
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron,
Because ye believed me not,
to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel,
therefore ye shall not bring this congregation
into the land which I have given them. Numbers 20:12
‘Because ye believed me not,
to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel’
Moses and Aaron knew God was going to give them water from the rock
God specifically told Moses to speak to the rock
Jesus wanted to do things differently
He often does
He could’ve withheld the water
The people didn’t know what God had commanded Moses and Aaron
Remember, Aaron was his spokesman,
so he could’ve reminded Moses what God directed them
But he didn’t
Moses struck the Rock the same way as he did the last time, except twice
God still caused water to gush forth from a rock
Moses knew
He knew the Lord had preformed numerous miracles
He also knew how to be obedient but chose not to
Moses took things in his own hands
God still decided to make the rock bring forth water for His name’s sake
In the eyes of the people and for all of us who read it afterward
God showed his Holiness to the people
God said to Moses and Aaron
‘Because ye believed me not,
to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel’ v12
Because ye rebelled against My word at the waters of Meribah v24
While Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever
Hebrews 13:8, each situation we encounter is different
I think He does that to keep us on our toes,
to help us remember who is God,
so that we do not get so that we trust in our staffs,
which are representative of God’s power
Gods power belongs to God, not to us
We are to be constantly seeking Him as to what He is doing,
exactly what He is asking of us
and how He wants to bless others through us
It sounds so difficult
Practice makes perfect
I can promise you, God knows your intentions,
if you are seeking to glorify Him, He knows that
If you push Him aside, He knows that
He has reasons for everything He does
that we may or may not be aware of
Trust Him and obey Him and let Him use you
it is such a great honor to see God work