The Instinct of Ambition: The Story of MosesSýnishorn

The Replacement of God

Leading the nation of Israel was hard, probably much harder than Moses imagined it would be. Facing off with Pharaoh was supposed to be the hard part, but as the wilderness years dragged on, the burden of leading Israel became the great challenge of Moses' life.

At first, Moses' response was admirable. He interceded for the people and asked God to forgive them. But Israel did not learn. They went on complaining and eventually began to turn on Moses himself.

Moses became so frustrated at his task that he asked God to kill him. Moses was ready to be done. He wanted out, even by death. Moses was exhausted, frustrated, and irritated. Still, the Israelites kept complaining. They complained about not having water; they complained about not having enough food. Then they complained about not having the right kind of food. When they began to complain about water again, Moses had had enough.

God instructed Moses to speak to the rocks, and water would be provided for the nation. Instead, Moses gathered Israel and let them have it. He called them rebels, lifted his staff, and struck the rock God had commanded him to speak to. “Shall we bring water from this rock?” he thundered.

Moses—who had followed God through wilderness and seas, through Egyptian bondage and plagues—disobeyed. He did not do what God had commanded him to do. It may seem small, striking the rock instead of speaking to it. But something much deeper and stronger was at work.

Moses' ambitions and his frustrations with that work eclipsed God. He mistook his own anger for God’s. He mistook himself for God. He suddenly evoked the plural pronoun “we,” speaking for himself and God as one.

Ambition has this tendency. We begin to measure everything by its fulfillment. Our evaluations become the highest standard. We judge God and others against it. Ambition can replace God, as long as we imagine we’re doing important things for him.

The danger of ambition is that it causes us to lose perspective. We have become increasingly desperate and increasingly the judge of all things. We no longer receive from God, we judge him. Do not underestimate where ambition may lead you. Do not underestimate what it can awaken in you. Do not underestimate how it may control you.

Moses, meek and obedient, suddenly finds himself angry, reactive, and vocal. He lost touch with God. His ambition replaced him.

God responded. Moses would not be allowed to enter the promised land. He was made to lay down the thing which had robbed him of God. That great ambition of his life, the finish line.

How does ambition lead you to miss what God is doing and become a judge of others?