Lessons from Moses

So the other day I was reading and I came across the re-telling of the second time that Moses was used to give Israel water from a rock.  I'm not sure exactly why this stood out to me this time, but this is the section that caught my attention:

The Lord said to Moses,  “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”  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.  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.”   Numbers 20:7-12

Now having been raised in church I've quite lost count of how many times this particular account of Moses lack of perfection has been used to tell me that God will punish me if I don't do what He says.  Sometimes it's hard for me to step away from the threat of judgement to actually see the reason God included this particular story in the history book, we call the Bible, that He gives us.  For whatever reason this time I found myself relating to this story a little differently.  Rather than focusing on the fact that God tells Moses and Aaron they will not lead Israel into the Promised Land, I recognized the struggle that had to take place in Moses in the moment.  

I found myself going back and looking at the first instance that God used a rock to provide water for his people.  It was interesting to compare the two accounts.  As I continued going back and forth wondering about the significance of striking the rock the first time, but the command to speak to it the second time.  I found myself wondering why?  The need was the same both times, why change the method that God wanted to use to reveal himself?  Why was the consequence of Moses decision to strike the rock that He would never see the land of promise?  

The more I have thought about it I find myself coming to the conclusion that there are lessons in the nuances of the two accounts.  Now I don't claim to be a Bible scholar able to break down the significance of striking the rock, showing God's power, etc, etc, etc.  Honestly, I don't care.  That's not the lesson God had for me this time.  My lesson this time was the realization that I like Moses at times tend to doubt the method God uses to reveal Himself.  I am guilty of questioning when God chooses to do something in multiple different ways.  The reality was Moses hindered God being able to show His power in an entirely different way to the nation of Israel, by defaulting to the way that worked before.  One of the other awesome things that I noticed this time through is the grace that God showed to Moses.  God did not strike him dead the instant he chose poorly.  In fact, just the opposite, God still gave Israel the water they sorely needed.  God continued to allow Moses to lead His people on their journey in the wilderness.  However, when it came to entering a new country with new promise and new challenges that would require a leader that would follow God without question, the consequence of Moses decision meant that he was not the man God would be able to use going forward.  Moses had been unwilling or maybe even unable to be used by God going forward.  Was it fear?  Was it pride?  Was it a moment of uncontrolled anger?  Those are questions that none of us can answer, but I'm left with some thoughts on my own life as a result.

Looking at Moses in this instance through these new eyes I find myself thinking of the leadership role that God has placed me in for this season of my life.  It makes me very conscious of the decisions I make and the people He has placed under my direction.  I find myself thinking about the necessity of being willing to move forward to the unknown as scary as it may be and to do things in a different way if that is how God directs.  It's a sobering thought when I look at Moses' story and realize he wasn't able to realize the full potential of the task God had set before him because he struggled with trusting in the unknown moment.  I makes me take even more seriously the decisions I make as I realize that being part of something that God is doing is an awesome thing and to miss a part of that is such a sad ending to have included as part of one's story.