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." Numbers 20:12

Moses had acted as a direct messenger between the Israelites and God. By God's power and guidance, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Each time that the Israelites rebelled, Moses was there to chastise them always following where God told him to go. Moses exhibited wonderful traits and true trust in the Lord time and time again. The trust that Moses showed and the faith he walked in were what maintained the close relationship he had with God. But in this one instance, Moses disobeyed God and instead of speaking to a rock he struck it in order for water to flow forward.

The text says that once again the Israelites were yelling at Moses and blaming him for the trouble they had. They said because he brought them out of Egypt they were thirsty. Moses did the right thing by immediately going to the Lord and asking him what to do, but then instead of following the command he decided to strike the rock in order to produce water. The text doesn't say why he did this but obviously he disobeyed the Lord. We too are often like Moses and I can only attribute our disobedience to pride. My hypothesis as to why Moses, when given clear instructions as to what to do, decided to do something obvious is simple human nature.

After being attacked and accused of wrong time and time again, the thought that we need to defend ourselves and to be esteemed by men often comes up and I believe this was the case with Moses. Instead of squelching that thought and remembering all of our work should be for the Lord's glory and out of love instead of selfish desire, we begin to ponder it. We think that our actions will get the same end result and we begin to favor our own path over the Lord's path and clear instruction. We think that since our works of old have shown and proven us as good servants it won't make much of a difference. Our pride deceives us and we disobey and like the situation with Moses, the Lord often rebukes and punishes us.

We must remember a few key points. First, it doesn't matter the good we've done in the past. We cannot earn grace or salvation through good works and they will not make up for disobedience. We cannot try to bargain with God and use what we've done in the past to try to justify the temptation or sin in the present. Secondly, we must remember that even if the Lord punishes us it is because he loves us. Rather than allow our pride to convince us that we are the reason behind success and allow the temptation to rebel completely from grace to over power us, the Lord will humble us and remind us that it is He who knows what is best and it is He who is holy.

We must remember that in our following the Lord, our desire and motivation should be to simply know him. We should not wished to be esteemed by others, nor should we think we can somehow reach a higher level of "righteousness" through works, and we also should not choose our own way over the Lord's. Sometimes his loving hand must be firm in order to stop us from taking the side-road that will lead us only in circles. When we begin to chase our way and justify that we know best and disobey, we immediately lose sight of and therefore possibly miss the entry to the next phase God has for us. Do not be dismayed when you are disciplined however because remember, even if you fall off of the path and the Lord disciplines you, learn from it and allow him to set you back on the course.

Just because you venture off at one point that does not mean you have to start the journey all over again. The enemy will try to keep you in a cycle of selfishness. He will try to lead you into hopelessness by deceiving you and making you believe that because you've fallen away the Lord will punish you and make you start all over. This is so far from the truth! The Lord's goal in discipling you is to bring you back to the place you were at and begin again moving forward. Do not be dismayed when disciplined. Heed the Lord's correction, return to him, and allow him to guide you forward. Stop running around in circles and walk in faith.

 

 

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Dear Lord,
How awful and foolish we feel after disobeying you. Remind us that the force behind your rebuke is love. Help us to heed your correction and return us to the path. Help us not to be dismayed but to rest in the forgiveness of your hand. We thank you for the wisdom we gain after being so foolish and pray it will stay with us so that we will not be led astray in the future. Help us not to give into the enemy's deceptions. Stop us from running around in circles and help us to choose and enable us to walk in faith. How very faithful and loving you are. You are more concerned with telling us what we need to hear rather than what we'd wish to hear and this is proof of your love. Forgive us for our foolishness and thank you for arms that are always open waiting for us to return to you. Amen.