Are you speaking or hitting the Rock?

Moses is no doubt the greatest leader of Israel during his time. However, as great as he was, he still committed mistakes — and it took one mistake for him to cost his chance to enter the Promised Land.

It makes me sad when reading the story of Moses in this passage. I wonder how he might have felt at that time when Yahweh told him that he will not enter the Promised Land and the mission he was called to do will be completed by someone else.

We might think that his punishment was harsh and seemed unfair. However, this is actually teaching us a lesson that those who hold a higher position are also held to a higher standard (James 3:1).

Moreover, we need to realize how serious the disobedience of Moses was during this incident.

The instruction was clear: take the rod, go with Aaron, gather the congregation, speak to the rock, and water will come out.

However, we see what Moses did here: took the rod; harshly lectured the people with anger and contempt; thought that God needed him to bring out water from the rock (saying “must WE bring water for you out of this rock?); and struck the rock not just once, but twice.

[Later we see how Yahshua was pictured as the Rock of Israel.]

Yahweh told Moses, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel.” So, the main issue for Yahweh is Moses’ unbelief and the failure to hallow God.

There are so many lessons here. However, I want to highlight the lesson that no matter how spiritually strong you are, you should always be spiritually on guard, because if you’re not careful, you can easily slip and sin.

[Please read, 5 Vital Lessons from the Life of Moses, to learn more.]