And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. Numbers 20:11 – The people of Israel are in their last stage of their wilderness journey, likely in year 40 out of 40, and the younger generation begins to complain like the older generation did many years back. There was no water and the people rose up once again against Moses to blame him for all their troubles. We see Moses received direction from the Lord on what to do, returns to the complainers, gives them a stern lecture, then strikes the rock in his anger twice to produce the water they wanted. From a worldly perspective Moses’ response is completely normal and expected. The people you’re trying to save blames you of trying to kill them, it would seem fully acceptable to the world to behave as Moses did…but that’s the problem. Moses handled things in a way the world would, yet not how God told him to. Moses was never told to lecture the people in his anger nor to even strike the rock, but simply to speak to the rock and God would provide. Let this be a filter for us as we choose to react and handle ourselves. If someone who does not follow Jesus approves of how you handle an issue and would even handle it that way themselves, pause and do some evaluating of your response. Certainly this isn’t always a sign that we handled something sinfully, but if someone doesn’t have the Holy Spirit guiding them then our response shouldn’t always mirror theirs. The world isn’t about showing grace, speaking truth, and showing Godly love, yet we are called as disciples to do such things. While in this world we aren’t to respond and behave like this world. Live in a way that stands out to the world around us, not mirrors it. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3370
Question To Ponder: How might this story have been different if Moses followed God’s word?
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