Numbers 20:12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
When Moses reached the edge of the promised land, the Lord would not permit him to go any further. Moses had dreamed of crossing over into that place that the Lord had prepared for Him but he would never see it up close.
When the children of Israel were in the desert, there came a time when they were thirsty. They began to complain to Moses. The Lord told Moses to take his staff and strike the rock that was before him. When he did, water began to pour out from beneath it. The second time the people were thirsty and began to complain again to Moses, this time he could take it no more. The Lord instructed Moses on this occasion, to simply speak to the Rock and water would come forth.
Numbers 20:7-8 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water”.
Moses was angry with the people, so he took his staff and began to beat the rock in anger.
Numbers 20:11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
The Lord told Moses that he had misrepresented God before the people. The people were thirsty and God loves His people. He wanted to give them water, and He was not angry with the people. Because of Moses’ anger, the people thought that God was angry with them when He was not.
Moses also misrepresented something else even more important:
The Rock that Moses struck the first time in the desert represented Jesus, our Rock who would be struck one time for us, so that all of our sins could be forgiven.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God...
1 Corinthians 10:4 and they all (in the desert) drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
Jesus would not suffer the torture of the Cross a second time, our Rock would not be struck a second time. When Moses struck the Rock in the desert that was a picture of who Jesus is and what He would do, he misrepresented the plan of salvation to all men.
It is a very serious matter to improperly represent the Lord before other people.
Many people will never read a Bible. Millions will not set foot inside a church building. What they will see and hear is you who claim to be a follower of Jesus. What they will know about Jesus, they will learn from you.
Our God is very gracious and merciful. He is kind to all, forgiving, patient and long-suffering. He delights in good and hates evil. He exalts the humble and puts down the prideful. Everything that He does is good and righteous and worthy of all praise and glory.
When we exhibit these qualities in our own life, then we are acting like our Father. When we are kind and patient, loving and forgiving, people see Jesus in us.
If we are unkind, impatient, unforgiving, selfish and prideful, we give people a false impression of what our God is like.
Today as we take a walk with our Lord, May we be more like Him in the way we treat people. May we talk the way Jesus talks, love the way Jesus loves. For when we love people in Jesus’ name, we are loving Him. That is the proper way to represent our great and glorious God.
Rob Robinson
