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Day 20: Moses at Meribah
Thoughts on the Passage
Do people who refuse to listen to God’s Word frustrate you? They frustrated Moses to the point that Moses sinned.
God told Moses to take the rod of God and go to a rock – but Moses was to speak to the rock, not strike the rock with the rod. It was a similar situation to what Moses faced before. It was a similar setup – taking the rod. The action was to be different. Moses was supposed to speak to the rock and the rock would produce water. Moses got angry and struck the rock.
God said this simple act of anger and disobedience was enough for Moses to lose the right to take the people into the promised land. God is serious about obedience and about us honoring God and His Word to us. Moses allowed his frustration over the hard hearts of God’s people to speak words that dishonored God before the people and caused him to disobey God’s command.
The higher the role of leadership, the more strictly God holds us accountable for simple disobedience. There is little room for error. It goes with the role of leadership. If you cannot handle that, then you are not ready for leadership.
Also, we see in Psalm 95 that God used this act of disobedience by the people to make a series of declarations:
-- the continual testing of God caused God to not allow them to enter rest.
-- the continual testing made God very tired of them.
-- the continual testing exposed their hard hearts of unbelief.
What do challenges do in our lives?
Application to our Life
How have I responded to challenges that come from difficult people?
How do I respond to God when I face difficult situations? Do I give God reason to bless – or remove blessing from me?
Time to Pray
Father, today as I read this about Moses, it reminds me that intercession also comes with severe challenges. The people provoked Moses so much that Moses lost his temper and it ended up costing Moses so very much more. I do not want that to be my legacy. I know that I need to call upon You for wisdom and grace in every situation. Without it, I will react according my natural inclination, and that will get me in trouble. Give me a heart to react with grace and Your heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Scripture
About this Plan
We all have excuses as to why we cannot move when God tells us to. “I’m not qualified” or “I’m still getting training in that area”. We think that our limitations are God’s limitations and we stop moving. In Plan 4 of Learning from the Old Testament Greats, we see Moses’ journey from fearful to faithful. We learn from his life how one “grows as they go”.
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