Chapter 6: Wandering
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Main Idea of The Story: God is redeeming a people for himself from every nation, tribe, people, and language, for his own glory through Jesus Christ.
Text for the Chapter:
Text for the Sermon:
Each sermon should answer these questions:
How do these Lower Stories fit into the Upper Story? (FCF)
What do these stories tell us about God, man, and the plan of redemption?
How do these stories point to Christ?
How is my story reflected in these stories?
What do these stories tell me about how my story fits in God’s Story?
Main Idea—In this/these story/stories...
Intro: “Are we there yet?”
If any of you have ever taken a road trip with children, you know the drill. Everyone is excited about the vacation up until about one hour into the drive. Then the whining starts. “I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I need to go to the bathroom.” And then, the dreaded question begins: “Are we there yet?”
And it doesn’t matter how many times you remind your children to go to the bathroom, how many snacks you bring, or how many times you tell them the duration of the drive and how to read the clock, they’re still going to whine and ask. Kids have a very short memory and an even shorter attention span and patience.
We like to think that as adults, we’re better than that. But we have our impatient, whiny, forgetful moments, too. Life is hard sometimes, and sometimes we find ourselves asking the same question: “Are we there yet?”
And, in some ways, that’s a good question to ask. We ought to long to be with Christ, to reach our final destination. But, there’s a form of asking that question—“Are we there yet?”—that comes not so much out of a desire for heaven as it does out of ingratitude and a failure to recognize the blessings that the Lord has provided for us here and now. The book of Numbers is basically a commentary on what happens when we fail to recognize and appreciate what God has provided for us.
Last week, we saw Israel at the base of Mt. Sinai as Moses ascends Sinai and receives the Ten Commandments and the Law. He gets instructions from God on how to build the tabernacle, a portable temple that will travel with them and serve as the place where God’s presence will dwell with his people. At the end of the book of Exodus, the tabernacle is finally completed and the glory of God fills the tabernacle:
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
It must have been quite a sight and quite an experience! Every day, the presence of God was upon the tabernacle in the form of a cloud, and every night by fire.
Almost a year after they arrive at Mt. Sinai, the cloud lifts up and goes out, so the people finally head out, following the Lord towards the Promised Land.
11 In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony, 12 and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. 13 They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses.
Israel is headed out on a road trip with God. And like the immature, childish people they are, they spend most of the trip whining and complaining. And if there is one central lesson in the book of Numbers, it’s this:
Do not despise what the Lord provides.
Do not despise what the Lord provides.
Over and over and over we see in the book of Numbers Israel complaining about what God has provided for them. And we need to take the lesson to heart, because sometimes we’re no better.
One of the first lessons we learn from their mistakes is...
Do not despise his daily bread. (Num. 11:1-9)
Do not despise his daily bread. (Num. 11:1-9)
When the congregation of Israel first set out from Egypt, they quickly got hungry and thirsty.
Three days after God parted the Red Sea for them, they were thirsty. And instead of just praying and asking for what they needed, they complained:
23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
God tells Moses to throw a log into the water, and the water is miraculously purified and they are able to drink.
Then, they get hungry and start complaining.
3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
And God, again, provides for them—bread from heaven. Every day for forty years, God provided food for them that they didn’t have to plant, water, fertilize, or hunt. It was just there laying on the ground for them.
35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
Every day, the first thing they would see when they walked out of their tent in the morning was a visible symbol of God’s provision for them: manna.
But, after a while, they grew to despise the manna.
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Over time, God’s people lost the awe and wonder of the miraculous provision of daily bread. They began to rewrite history in their heads and imagine that the grass had been greener on the other side of the fence, back in Egypt. They came to a point where they would have rather been back in bondage to Egypt with the Egyptian food than have their freedom in God and the manna he provided.
What they first viewed as a miraculous blessing, they grew to regard as normal and unremarkable. What they then viewed as normal, they grew to regard as their due. What they then regarded as their due, they grew to despise as less than their due. This is how entitlement happens.
When you wake up in the morning and you’re hungry, and you go to the fridge, what do you see? Probably you have food in your fridge or your pantry. It may not be the food that you have a craving for right at that moment, but probably none of us are going hungry.
Your stocked refrigerator and pantry are every bit as much of a visible reminder of the grace and provision of God as the manna God’s people ate in the wilderness. Your home, your cars, your job, your family—by the time you get to lunch you have experienced dozens of blessings that God has provided—visible symbols of his love and favor on your life.
And yet, how many times do we take them for granted? How many of us prayed and pleaded for the job we now despise? How many of us were once grateful for the vehicle or phone we now can’t wait to trade in for the newest model.
If you are struggling with an unsatisfied craving, it is likely because you have come to regard the miraculous provisions of God as less than what you are owed. You have forgotten the wonder of God’s daily bread.
The next lesson we get is...
Do not despise his people. (Num. 11:10-15)
Do not despise his people. (Num. 11:10-15)
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
The people weren’t the only ones who struggled with resentment in the Wilderness. Their leader did as well. Complaining is contagious, by the way. If you want to spoil the attitude at home, at work, or in your church—just start complaining. It spreads like a disease.
Moses allowed himself to be infected, too. When the people complained and God did not intervene as quickly as Moses thought he should, Moses struggled with bitterness towards the people and towards God.
12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?
Moses’ words here in Num. 11:12 remind me of Adam’s words in Genesis 3:10
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
Moses says, “The people you gave me are complaining...so now I’m complaining.” Mom, Dad, teacher, deacon, leaders, employee, boss—don’t let yourself get infected by the complaining virus. It is a virus. It will destroy the attitude in a company, in a school, in a family, and in a church.
He came to view the responsibility of leadership as a crushing burden instead of as a wonderful privilege. Now, interestingly, God does not harshly rebuke Moses, and in fact, he affirms that the people are indeed being quite a burden, and he appoints 70 elders to help Moses carry the burden. God is gracious to us and patient with us, even when we complain to him.
But, if we don’t watch our attitudes, we will allow people to make us bitter and resentful. We will grow to despise the ministry that God has given us—ministry that exists to serve people.
Listen, people are difficult. People are whiny. People gossip. People get easily offended. And if you don’t make a conscious effort to take it to the Lord, the very drama and whining that irritates you in those you minister to will, ironically, take root in your heart too. And it can have seriously deadly consequences in your life, as we will see with Moses and Aaron later.
Do not despise his Leaders. (Numbers 12:1-16)
Do not despise his Leaders. (Numbers 12:1-16)
In Num. 12, Miriam and Aaron decide they’ve had enough with taking orders from Moses.
1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it.
It seems that they took issue with Moses’ wife. Now, they may be referring to Zipporah. Moses meets and marries Zipporah back in Ex. 2, where it says that she was the daughter of the priest of Midian. So, Zipporah seems to have been a Midianite. But, there was a tribe of Midian that is called “Cushan,” so it may be referring to that. Or, it’s possible that Zipporah has died by this point and that Moses has remarried. Cush is the name of the kingdom of Ethiopia, so it’s possible that he has remarried to an Ethiopian woman.
So, it could be an issue of racism at play here, or they may have just not liked Moses’ wife for some other reason. It’s not really clear, nor is it that important. The bottom line is that they took issue with Moses’ wife for some reason, but they used this as an opportunity to challenge Moses’ authority.
The real issue here is that whatever the occasion, they thought that they could challenge Moses’ authority because they also had access to God. They seem to be implying that they were also prophets, which is probably true. Aaron was the High Priest. He had been with Moses from day 1, helped perform the miracles, heard the voice of God, gone with Moses up the Mountain. Miriam composed a song under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit at the Red Sea, so they did indeed hear from the Lord directly at times. There is some truth to their claim—Moses was not the only one through whom the Holy Spirit spoke.
But, while it’s true that God had invited Aaron and the elders into his presence at Sinai, there is no doubt that Moses was God’s chosen instrument and chosen leader for the people. Moses wasn’t lording his authority over them, which Num 12:3 makes clear
3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
Now, we might chuckle at the irony of this verse a bit, because the first five books of the Bible were mostly written by Moses, so it’s possible that Moses himself wrote this verse. If he did write it, then he did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But, there are some pieces here and there that seem to have been written probably by Joshua after Moses died, so it’s quite likely that this was added by Joshua as an explanatory note to make it clear that this conflict was not a result of Moses being an unbearable tyrant.
We’ve already seen the people bickering against Moses a number of times, and they will continue to do so again and again. And it’s bad enough when the people complain and grumble against their leader. But such grumbling is especially harmful and discouraging when it comes from those who are supposed to be ministering alongside you—those who are supposed to be helping you lead.
Leaders are not above criticism and rebuke. There are times when arrogant, evil leaders must be confronted—the prophets did this a number of times to evil kings of Israel. And, there are also times when good leaders make mistakes and need to be held accountable. No leader is perfect or without error.
But there is a big difference between humbly approaching a leader and saying, “Hey, have you considered this?” or “I’m not sure if you understand how that landed...” or “I’m concerned about this...” vs. what Miriam does here. (Based upon the following verses, it seems that Miriam is the primary source of the criticism, because she is the one who is punished.)
There are times when we need to hold a leader accountable. But there’s a biblical way to do that and an unbiblical way to do that. The biblical way is with humility, after prayer and soul searching, and it’s done face to face. Not by text or email, not by gossiping with others and stirring controversy, not by blowing up, and not by ambushing them publicly. Before you confront someone, confront yourself first. Deal with the log in your own eye before you attempt to extract the speck from someone else’s.
In this case, this controversy seems to stem from plain old jealousy, or perhaps a bit of unresolved conflict between Miriam and her sister in law. Miriam didn’t handle this the biblical way, and she suffers for it.
4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. 10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again.
So, before you blow up on your boss, before you ambush your teacher and try to shame them, before you gossip about your teacher, your former pastor, or your current pastor, before you badmouth your parents to all your friends at school, check your heart. Remember that the type of people who criticized and rejected Moses ultimately criticized and rejected Christ—the prophet like Moses.
We live in a culture that has less and less respect for authority with each passing day. Submission is almost a curse word in our culture. Those who defy the police, call for the execution of political leaders, rage quit on their boss, and criticize their spiritual leaders command great followings on the internet and in our culture. But Scripture is clear. Christians are not to be like the world
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. 18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
And let us remember that as we submit to authority, we are ultimately submitting to God himself and entrusting ourselves to his leadership.
We also see in Numbers a warning...
Do not despise his Promises. (Num. 13-14:38)
Do not despise his Promises. (Num. 13-14:38)
Remember that God has promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants multiple times.
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
That promise which God made to Abraham has been repeated several times to his descendants. Now, they are finally at the border of the land, ready to take possession of what God has already promised them.
They send out twelve spies—one for each tribe—to go and scout out the land and figure out the best route of attack. But, when the spies get back, there’s a mixed report. They come back with some of the produce and a report of the land for Moses:
23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
Caleb and Joshua say, “God is with us, let’s go take the land!”
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
But the other ten spies are not so optimistic.
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying,
“The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
And the problem here is that, while their report is realistic, it lacks faith. The report they give is a realistic assessment of their physical abilities. The cities were fortified (we have archaeological evidence of this), most of the cities of Canaan were experienced in warfare whereas the Israelites were not, and there’s no reason to doubt that the inhabitants were much larger than the Israelites.
But the problem is that when God’s people assess the physical obstacles in front of them in merely human terms, they do not account for the single biggest factor in the battle: God.
God had promised them success if they would simply follow him. God swore on his character, his name, that he would fulfill that promise:
8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”
They had already seen evidence that Yahweh keeps his promises. So, to deny their ability to take the Promised Land wasn’t a realistic assessment, it wasn’t humility, it was a denial of the character of God and his faithfulness to his word.
4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
When God’s people refuse to believe in his promises, when they hide behind what’s “realistic” instead of trusting in his promises, they despise the Lord’s promises and they reject God as their God.
And Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb get that. So as soon as the people say this, they know the danger they are all in...
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”
So the question really boils down to this—does the Lord delight in his people, or not? Is the Lord good to his Word, or not?
And when you and I face difficult times in life where a “realistic assessment” doesn’t look promising, where the finances don’t add up in the budget, where the doctor’s report says there’s no hope, where that person in our life seems to be beyond hope of ever coming to Christ, the question is not “is this in my power to accomplish?” but “Is this in God’s power to accomplish, and has he promised that he will do it?”
Sometimes we pray selfishly for things God hasn’t promised us. God hasn’t promised me a Lamborghini or a million dollar mansion. But he has promised my daily needs:
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
God hasn’t promised an easy life without suffering, but he has promised that his Spirit will go with me wherever I go:
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
And God has not promised you and I a physical plot of land here on earth, but we do have a Promised Land that awaits us:
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
God hasn’t promised victory in every single battle of life, or that you will never experience setbacks. But he has promised us that he is for us and that nothing will ultimately be able to overcome us and that he will not withhold from us anything that we need:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
See, the ultimate question is not about whether the situation you’re facing is “realistically achievable” or whether you are sufficiently strong enough to overcome it, but whether God delights in his people or not. And the ultimate proof that he does delight in you is that he gave up his only Son for you. If God is willing to do that, then everything else is easy!
So, the final question is simply this: Is God a God who keeps his word—is he faithful—or is he not?
Unfortunately, the majority of the Israelites concluded wrongly on this question. They rejected God. They were faithless.
10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
And because of their faithlessness, instead of receiving the blessings promised, they receive judgment and their children receive the blessing instead. Which leads us to the next lesson...
Do not despise his Discipline. (Num. 14:39-45)
Do not despise his Discipline. (Num. 14:39-45)
God will keep his word—the descendants of Israel will indeed inherit the Promised Land—but God didn’t specify which descendants. So, those that complained and despised his promises get cut out of the will:
28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,
30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness.
And now the people realize the mistake they’ve made and the consequences of their lack of faith.
39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.”
41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies.
So, these ten tribes that said it was impossible decide they’re going to go ahead and try to take the Promised Land.
44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.
The Israelites who sinned despised God’s discipline and judgment upon them. They feign repentance and attempt to take the Promised Land by force anyways. It is false repentance, though, because their mourning does not lead them into obedience.
Again, the problem was not that they “didn’t believe in themselves and their ability"—despite what our culture tells you, the Bible doesn’t command you to “believe in yourself,” it says “believe in God.” And they’re still not listening. They now say, “We can do it!” when they should have been saying, “God can do it!” But the Ark of the Covenant—representing God’s presence with his people—was still in the tabernacle. It wasn’t going with them.
See, if the Lord is in it, nothing can stop you. But if the Lord isn’t in it, then no amount of physical effort or skill can make it happen.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
It might seem like they are showing repentance here, but they aren’t. True repentance in this situation would have been accepting the judgment of the Lord, praying for forgiveness, accepting the consequences of their actions, trying to make the best of their time in the wilderness, and waiting for God to go before them.
Now, some of these who lacked faith were definitely unbelievers. Many of these God put to death and they were eternally separated from God because they refused to believe and put their trust in God no matter what.
But there may have been some among the crowd who allowed the unbelievers around them to cloud their judgment, to sow fear into their hearts, to shake their confidence in God’s promises.
When believers act in faithlessness, God disciplines them. That’s what the wilderness was for:
2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.
So, if you find yourself in the wilderness this morning because of your faithlessness, be patient. God has not forsaken you, but he will discipline you from time to time. He does this not as punishment meant to kill, but as training meant to heal.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
And the ultimate lesson that we learn from the Israelites in the wilderness is this:
Do not despise the Lord.
Do not despise the Lord.
What all of these things have in common is that when we despise what God provides, we ultimately despise him. To despise the gift is to despise the giver.
In Numbers 20, the people again find themselves without water and begin complaining.
2 Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord!
Moses and Aaron, in their frustration, bitterness, and anger towards the people, lose their temper. In Ex. 17:6, God had instructed Moses to provide water for the people by striking the rock.
But, now God instructs Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock.
8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
But, Moses and Aaron—the “you” in v. 12 is plural, indicating both were involved—are overcome with bitterness and anger and instead of obeying the Lord, they strike the rock twice in the presence of the people.
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
When Moses and Aaron struck the rock, they despised and dishonored God in front of the people. They treated a holy God with irreverence and disrespect.
A lot of times in our lives, our anger and bitterness gets the best of us. Beware lest you—fathers, mothers, teachers, leaders—lose your temper and strike the Rock in your anger and frustration and dishonor God in front of those he has entrusted to you to lead.
One of the main ways that Satan will tempt you to dishonor God is through sowing bitterness in your heart towards people that frustrate you and sin against you.
And we might say, “Well, I would never strike God!” But again, to despise what God provides is to despise him. So, if we allow our spouse’s sins to take root in our hearts and develop into bitterness, such that we treat them with contempt, that’s “striking the Rock.”
Children—and that includes adult children—when you allow anger towards your parents’ sins and failures to make you hate them and harbor resentment towards them, to disrespect them—that’s striking the Rock.
And when pastors, teachers, and leaders allow their peoples’ sins to grow into resentment in their hearts so that they lash out at their church and dishonor God—that’s striking the Rock.
And the thing that Moses didn’t quite understand is that his striking the Rock was a picture of what was to come.
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
The rock represents Christ.
See the Rock represents Christ. Because of our sins and rebellion, Christ was struck and broken. Through our sins and our rebellion, we have all struck the Rock.
And the beauty of grace is this—when you and I struck the Rock, what poured out was God’s mercy and love. Out of Christ, our Rock, poured out the water that satisfied our needs. Christ was dishonored, disrespected, and broken so that you and I could be forgiven and enter into the Promised Land.
And just as the Israelites entered the Promised Land through faith, so must we. Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient provider of your needs?
Are you trusting in his promises, resting in his might, confident that he is for you, that he delights in you and will freely give you all that you need to live a life of godliness that brings honor to him?
