We never see it coming. Moses, who has been the long suffering, faithful servant to an impatient, faithless, and continually complaining people, faces one of his last tests of faith, and fails.
We read about it in Numbers 20. It’s the first month of the 40th year Israel has spent in the desert. Nearly everyone who was living when the 10 spies sent to scout out the land of promise returned with a bad, fear generating report, has died.
It’s sad to read how little the next generation learned about walking by faith. Numbers 20, verse 2 begins: “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
Forty years later and Moses is STILL hearing it, “Why did YOU bring us here?” ! He had been so much the tender shepherd before, pleading with the Lord on behalf of the people. Always he had been concerned about the Lord’s reputation among the surrounding nations if the Lord withdrew His promises to Israel.
Over in Exodus 32 when the people were found to be worshiping a golden calf and the Lord threatened to destroy them and start over with Moses, we read this, beginning in verse 11: “But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. ‘O Lord, why should your anger burn against your people, who you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”
This time his faith fails him. Why? Has the people’s lack of faith finally rubbed off? Has Moses become tired of all the blame leveled at him? Did the temper that led to his killing an Egyptian back when he was a prince in Egypt rear its ugly head again? Had he forgotten the long suffering, faithful provision of God all these 40 years? We can’t be positive, but we can learn something from Moses response to the people’s complaining and God’s reaction.
The Lord gives instructions for Moses to take his staff and, along with Aaron, gather the assembly together, stand before a rock the Lord has indicated, and SPEAK to it, so that it will bring forth water.
Beginning with verse 9 we read: “So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them: ‘Listen you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.”
Can you HEAR the tone of Moses voice? Where is the long suffering nature he exhibited in the past when Israel complained? Now he calls them “rebels”.
Where is his reliance on the Lord, the source of the water? Now he says, “must WE bring you water?”
And where is the exact obedience we’ve seen so many times before? The people were often disobedient, but never Moses, until now. Now Moses does not simply speak to the rock, he strikes it, not once, but twice.
It is a indication of the grace of God toward His people that Moses’ disobedience and arrogant attitude did not result in God’s withholding water. He provided the water – but He wasn’t finished with Moses.
Beginning in verse 12 we read: “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.’ ”
Oh no, what a terrible outcome! After all those years of leading this people and NOT giving in to anger, with one failure, Moses will be kept out of the land.
Why did the Lord come down so hard on Moses when he had been so faithful all those 40 years previously?
The reason He did is a serious wake-up call for those whom God calls to a position of leadership over His people. Leaders are held to a very high standard because others are watching. God saw Moses’ actions not just as disobedient and angry, He saw them as an affront to His holiness, something a spiritual leader should not be guilty of!
The New Testament has a few things to say about the honorable position of leaders and their need to set a godly example.
I Timothy 5:17 “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”
Titus 1:5 “An elder must be blameless”; verse 7 “Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless. . . not quick tempered.”
James 3:1 “not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
As the leader of the people of Israel, God held Moses to a higher standard of faith and living because his faith, or lack thereof, would rub off on those whom he led. What impact do you think it would have had on the people of Israel if Moses, the long standing model of faithfulness to God, got off lightly with this breach of obedience?
We may think the punishment was too harsh for the crime – but the Lord did not. Yet, the Lord had not cast away His faithful servant Moses.
At the end of Moses’ life, recorded in Deuteronomy 34, Moses climbed to the top of Mount Nebo. Beginning at verse 1 we read: “There the Lord showed Moses the whole land. . and said: ‘This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants’. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
Oh, Moses, where was your faith at that critical testing?
Reading this today made me think of our church. Just a few weeks ago, one, then the other of our youth leaders, announced that they would be moving on to new opportunities. We are VERY happy for them and very sad for us because we loved and appreciated them and their ministries to the junior and senior high kids of our church.
In light of this passage from Numbers 20, I’m thinking this is our churches’ “Moses” opportunity. How will we respond to this challenge to our faith? I can think of some possibilities.
We could follow in the footsteps of the Israelites and complain. We can blame the youth leaders for what we might see as their untimely departure. We can blame the elders for not moving fast enough to find someone to replace them. We can blame the volunteers who will fill in in the absence of a youth director because they aren’t “trained”.
Another possibility. We can give in to fear that, unlike all those other times, THIS time, God won’t come through. Or that without a youth leader our kids will leave youth group in droves, our church family will depart for other churches, and we’ll have to close our doors. Really?
What kind of example of faith and spiritual leadership does this demonstrate to our kids?
How about: God can’t be trusted this time around. Or, God’s promises were for Bible people, not us in the 21st century. Or, the success of youth group depends on ONE person and we MUST find that person, preferably YESTERDAY!
How easy it would be to give in to fear and discouragement, to pull a “Moses” and forget the faithfulness and power of the God we serve!
But church! This is NOT the time to give in to discouragement, fear, and “what ifs”. This is the time to LOOK BACK at God’s past faithfulness, and WALK FORWARD by faith in who God is!
And THIS is the time to MODEL THAT FAITH before our kids.
This, my MEFC friends, is where the FAITH rubber meets the road of life!
Let’s refuse to give in to fear or discouragement. Let’s refuse to stir up those emotions in others by continually talking about it. Look what happened to the 2nd generation of Israelites whose parents died in the wilderness! They followed their example of complaining and grumbling against God.
Let's choose instead to set an example of TALKING and WALKING by faith and encourage our young people to do the same - because they’re watching! Let's not let this faith opportunity go by!
And let’s keep our eyes on Jesus, the “Author and Perfector of our faith”, because He’s got this WELL in hand!
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