Admit it. We have all been in situations where we were told to do one thing, yet we did something else. Your mother tells you to clean your room, but you stuff everything in the closet and hopes she doesn't notice. There is a big test coming up, and you don't study enough so you have to cheat to get through. In both these circumstances, the end result looks good, but then, your mother opens the door and everything falls out, or the teacher ends up giving you a bad grade, yet if you had taken the time to study, it would have been better. Believe it or not, Moses had one of these "quick fix" problem before him, and he choose unwisely. The story I am referring to is of course the striking of the rock for water in Numbers 20. Lets go back a book for a minute. Shortly after freedom was giving to the Israelite people from Egypt, they come to a place where there is no water to drink, and they are surrounded on all sides by desert. So, in classic Israel fashion, they complain to Moses. "We should have stayed in Egypt. At least there we had enough to drink. Why would you bring us out here just for us to die?" Naturally, Moses takes the people's request before God, and here is what takes place. Moses is commanded to strike a rock, and from that rock, water would flow out, enough for all the people and their livestock. With the help of his trusted staff, Moses strikes the rock and water begins to gush out. Now fast forward with me. The people have spent roughly 40 years in the desert, with each step along the way miraculous taken care of by God the Father. Now all of a sudden, with the promised land in sight, an estimated 4-5 day journey away, the supply of water quickly dries up. "Oh, great. No water. Now what? We are going to die!!!" These people have witnessed God's hand for 40 years firsthand, but at the first sign of trouble, they panic and fear for their lives. "Moses, we have no water. Save us like you did last time." Again, Moses goes to God and prays for water. This time, however, God gives a slightly different instruction. The first time, said to strike the rock. This time, he says to speak to it, and water will flow out of it. "What? Are you kidding me God? These people want me to provide for them and all you want me to do is speak to a rock? I will be a fool in the eyes of the people. No thank you God, I think I like the old way better. Let me just strike the rock as I did last time and that way I will not look like an idiot. Perform the miracle like before and it will all be good." So, Moses strikes the rock and God sends water. He performed the miracle exactly like the people wanted. Their provision was meet. But what about their promise?
"But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,'Because you did trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land that I give them."-Numbers 20:12
Ouch!! That had to sting. Here the people's need has been meet, but at such a high price. God just told them that because of their disobedience, they are not allowed to walk into God's promise. God did not tell them to strike the rock, for He likes to show up in different ways then they were used to, but Moses was more concerned about himself to give God the honor that he rightfully deserved. He choose to strike out of comfort rather than speak out of commitment. He gave up his place in the promise because he thought God too small to do a miracle in a way not shown before.
Have you ever been so close to your promise that you can almost see it, yet you act out of fear and settle for provision instead of waiting for promise? The people freaked out because they would have to go a little while without in order to get so much more, yet they could not get over their own thirst to make it that long. God is in the miracle business, but he likes to change things up a little. He asked Moses to do a simple task, Speak, don't strike, but Moses lost his promise because he refused to trust God to provide.
"What do I say? What is it that God wants me to speak in order to get water out of this rock?" It could something as simple as "Rock, spring forth with water", or maybe it is simply declaring your promise over your situation, If God has promised you "Canaan", declare it, speak it, make it so. Don't settle for the temporary, but declare the eternal. God knows what He is doing, give him the Honor he deserves to follow through with what he said.
Adam Semple- A young man on a mission from God.
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