Water from the Rock: Part Duex
I've always enjoyed watching movies. One of my favorites was a movie starring Nicholas Cage entitled, National Treasure. It has everything I absolutely love in it. Who doesn't love a good treasure hunt, especially when it involves adventure, intrigue, and a huge dose of history! Just the other night I had the privilege of watching it again with my family. Carly and Mommy were not nearly as intrigued as Colby and I were, but then again they like barbies and pink stuff and can't really appreciate the joy and value of a creaky, winding staircase down a spiderwebbed elevator shaft that is hundreds of years old accessed only through a grave that could only be seen on the backside of the Declaration of Independence with invisible ink and special glasses retrieved on the roof of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. They don't know what they are missing! But I digress. So you can imagine my excitement
when I heard that they were making a National Treasure 2, the Sequel! I have to admit I was a bit disappointed, it didn't really have the magic of the first one at least for me. Leading me to the conclusion that has become the general consensus of the general population. The sequel is never as good as the first one.
In Numbers 20, we see the children of Israel experiencing a sequel of their own, and true to form, the sequel leaves a lot to be desired. Hanging on the backdrop of the wilderness wanderings, Moses response to the people's frustration left him longing for the promised land, but never setting foot in it. Here's what I learned from Numbers 20:
Highlight:
'The entire Israelite community entered the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and they settled in Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord . Why have you brought the Lord ’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!” Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord spoke to Moses, “Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.” So Moses took the staff from the Lord ’s presence just as he had commanded him. Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.” These are the Waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord , and he demonstrated his holiness to them. ' Numbers 20:1-13
Explain:
There is so much here to cover. This is the same song, the second verse. This instance had been played out among very similar lines way back in Exodus 17. God’s people were fresh off their triumphant exit from the slavery of Egypt after having experienced a miraculous emancipation in an overnight parade out of a land decimated by the plagues and eventually the sorrow of the death of the firstborn. They had experienced all the miraculous direction, protection, and provision of God not their way to Sinai and in their complaints, God stands on the Rock before them and commands Moses to strike the rock (thereby striking God Himself) with their complaints and from the rock of their salvation (quite literally) flowed the water of life. Paul calls Christ our Spiritual Rock in 1 Corinthians, and Jesus invites those who are thirsty to drink of Him as that water from the Rock at the celebration of the festival designed to commemorate this nearly 1000 years later.
But now fast forward 40 years from the time of that first rock encounter in the wilderness of Sin, the people have wandered in the wilderness of Zin this time for 40 years. Massive amounts of them have met with their death (an average of 75-80 people a day for 40 years straight). And now almost as a test to remind them of all that they had learned (or hadn’t learned). They come to Moses and again demand water, quarreling with him. They had lost all hope even opining that they had perished with their brothers who perished before the Lord. These were the men with Korah. Men who questioned Moses leadership and wondered aloud the same thing that these people had accused Moses of, namely, "'Why have you brought the Lord ’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink!” ' Numbers 20:4-5 They were accusing Moses of the same thing that Korah and the 250 with him had been swallowed up into the earth for wondering.
Upon further study, their accusations are really about more than water though. These people only use water as an excuse to rail against Moses. They call this place an evil place (20:5). This is the same word that was used to describe the report the 10 unbelieving spies had brought about the promised land. They are actually accusing Moses of leading them into the wilderness and not into the promised land when it wasn’t Moses idea to spend 40 years in the desert, it was their unbelief that caused this wilderness wandering. Plus it wasn’t Moses who was leading them it was God (He’s the cloud and the fire), yet they levied their accusations at Moses.
Moses ordinarily has a track record of handling this stuff well, but this time was different. He gets instructions from the Lord to take the staff his his hand, and to speak to the rock while they watch and it will yield water. Instead, He stands to address the people (rather than the rock which is what He was supposed to be doing), and says to them, “listen you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?” In one sense, you can emulate with Moses frustration, but a closer look reveals some really disturbing attitudes in their leader.
For one thing, Moses calls them rebels! Name calling is not a good look on God’s man. Though they are rebellious, they aren’t His people so they aren’t rebelling against him but against God. The other flaw here is that Moses feels the responsibility to take matters into His own hands literally rather than pray for God to do something. He says, “must we bring water out of this rock for you?” His belligerent anger and reaction had betrayed the pressures of his heart, He felt responsible for this people. In his own flesh he thought he was the one who had to do something (as if he could water millions of people in the desert?!)
The results of Moses’ reaction were tragic as he would never set foot in the land he was originally called to bring this people too. Standing in the balance of his rash, impetuous, reactive, anger was the calling of his life and he wasted it with one frustrated response. The reason for this is because he disobeyed. His obedience would have demonstrated God’s holiness to the people and his disobedience destroyed God’s holiness in the sight of the people.
Apply:
The more things change, the more they stay the same. This people were indeed stiff-necked. Bodies falling to the floor day after day and they still complain and still accuse rather than repent and recognize that they are dependent on God. How long will it take us, how many dreams have to die, how many years to we have to wander in the desert of our pride before we break down and stop complaining and start repenting for our sin?
As a leader, the problem is never the problem. When people complain to leadership about an issue, there are often symptoms of a deeper issue. The water wasn’t the problem, it was their frustration with their situation. Don’t get lost in the weeds of addressing symptoms without considering what might be the deeper cause.
The real problem here on display was not the discontent of the people but the disrespect of the leader. Moses had to live to a higher standard, and when His focus shifted from responding to God’s leadership to reacting to the way the people followed God, Moses’ leadership was in dangerous peril. As a leader, our focus must be fixed not on the opposition but on obedience. What has God said to do? The moment we focus on opposition and not obedience we are headed for disaster. God was not asking Moses to fix the people’s complaining, He was asking Moses to follow the Lord’s command. There is great danger for a leader who would rather respond to the people’s complaints rather than the Lord’s commands.
Moses failed to realize that this was God’s people (not His) as evidenced by his frustration with them. They were the Lord’s possession and he was powerless to change their minds and hearts or to provide for the deeper needs underlying their complaints. He was only responsible to stay laser focused on doing what God has asked Him to do. Moses obedience to God’s commands demonstrated God’s holiness and His disobedience violated God’s holiness. Moses responded to the people’s disobedience with his own disobedience.
Verse 12 is of particularly note. Obedience is the proof of our trust in God to demonstrate His holiness in the sight of the people. The way in which we prove or display our trust in God’s ability is to do what He says, not what we think should be done, not what our frustrations encourage us to do in that moment. Obedience is the only wise and godly course of action.
Respond:
Do I trust God enough to demonstrate His holiness among His people to obey Him when I am frustrated and threatened? Do I react out of fear and defensiveness when I am challenged or do I walk in obedience to God and humility to others with love and respect? Is my response in these moments to speak to rock in obedience or speak to the people in disobedience? Who you address in those moments is the difference between obedience and disobedience. God forgive me for my disobedience at times, keep me laser focused on obeying you in my own life, and in every facet of leadership, in my home, in my family, in my church. In every sphere of influence may my obedience demonstrate my trust in God to demonstrate His holiness. God help me to be faithful with every moment.
