“Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.” Numbers 20:11

I struggle with stubbornness. When combined with anger, the two can be lethal emotionally. When the desire to have circumstances turn out for good goes haywire, I feel frustration rise. If not surrendered quickly, the frustration reaches the anger stage. When I keep trying to reverse my situation to no avail, I accumulate new ideas and suggestions – stubbornness.  God allows me try and fail until I seek Him. His ways are higher and work out better. While I know this time held truth from Scripture, I falter more often than I’d like to admit.

I serve a forgiving God. Yet, I’ve learned He’s not fond of out of control or unconfessed sin. Placing myself and my ideas above His, and going behind His back to get what I want, never works out well.

Moses and I share the same personality. He obeyed God under severe circumstances until he reached his boiling point. His followers made the journey unbearable. Murmuring and complaining flowed from their mouths until they were parched. While their Creator was willing to provide water for them in the desert, and even have it flow from a rock, Moses went behind God’s back and committed a major faux pas.

In the midst of the people’s grumblings, Moses seeks the Lord. He hears and tells Moses to speak to a rock and it’ll yield water to drink. But Moses, filled with anger and a stubborn spirit, hits the rock twice and speaks out of the rebellion in his heart. One costly mistake. Moses joined the ranks of the rebellious. And so have I.  

I know God loves me. But sometimes He lets me suffer longer than I desire and stay in unfair situations until, like Moses, I rebel. Have you ever rebelled? Disobedience against God – rebellion. We don’t want to call it by that name, but frankly, a rose by any other name… It is what it is and it will prick you, and others, and more importantly, God. 

Moses kept his leadership position but missed out on entering the Promised Land. The urgent lesson here – obey God. Don’t strike the rock once or twice if you’ve been called to “just speak” to it. Let’s not go behind God’s back and do our own thing. 

His ways are so much higher and better than ours!

 

 

Not Twice
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