Moses was tired and angry. In Numbers 20 8-11, we are told about Moses really losing it. His own people, the Israelites, were quite a bunch of complainers and he really had enough of them. Look at all he had done for them and now they wanted water, not unreasonable I suppose, but they chose to whine and complain to Moses and it was the last straw. God told him to speak to the rock and water would come out, but Moses wasn’t going to let it go at that. You can just imagine Moses ranting on his way to the rock, sick of the heat, dust and the burden that God placed on him. When he got to that rock, he exposed his weakness.
” Listen you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock?”
We?!!! Ugh, that was the last straw for God too. God had given Moses a huge responsibility, perhaps even greater than Noah had, but he failed. He didn’t fail in the task, he failed to remember who was the power source. Moses included himself in bringing out the water and he didn’t do it the way God commanded. I’ll bet when he hit that rock twice, he was really letting it fly. Nothing gentle or dignified about it.
Moses greatest job was to obey, God did all the work. Moses didn’t cause any of the plagues or perform any miracles through any power that he had, he was to be a willing servant for God. It worked mind-blowingly well till Moses included himself in the Trinity. Moses felt he was a source of power and was directing the outcome. He was getting some pride in his role and losing his servant mindset.
How many of us are guilty of that same bit of pride? We help someone and it turns out well, we participate in successful event, perhaps even hear others speaking highly of us. We begin to think we’re pretty good and doing great things. We’ve really got the water flowing from that rock! God sure is lucky to have us on His team! Then a few failures start showing up. People that you’ve been ministering to have walked away, an event flops, and now people are stabbing you in the back. The Israelites are really coming down on you. Now you’ve become angry, frustrated, and disillusioned with the whole God/Church thing and are ready to walk away yourself.
How can this be? We have forgotten that we are only very loved servants. We are not responsible for those successes that occurred. When we obey, God will often use us for great things, but when we start filling up with pride and thinking that we’re pretty hot excrement, God needs to bring us back down. We can’t really do much on our own. When we give ourselves credit for success, we also have to give ourselves credit for failures. The truth is that it has never been about us the whole time. I wish Moses wouldn’t have lost sight of that, he could have seen the promised land on this side of death.
Don’t ever let yourself be filled with the pride of accomplishment. God raises kings and destroys them to serve His purpose. Don’t settle for being great in the worlds eyes, when being a humble servant is a greater accomplishment. I wonder what “promised land” God has waiting for you? Don’t cheat yourself out of it, fight pride and obey. It’s not about you.
Stay humble friends
humbleshoeshineboy 