Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. Numbers 20:11 HCSB
Taken out of context, this verse sounds good, doesn’t it? The people and their livestock had no water. They grumbled and complained to Moses. Moses went to the Lord and God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would yield water. But as you can see from this passage, Moses struck the rock not once, but twice.
God plainly said to speak to the rock. Why did Moses strike the rock? He was angry. The Israelites had done nothing but grumble and complain since the Lord had brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Their go-to response was we should have stayed in Egypt, or we should have died in the wilderness.
God had become so sick of hearing this that several chapters back, He had granted their wish. Instead of going into the Promised Land they were returned to the wilderness to die out there. Still, they grumbled and complained.
Last Sunday in our children’s church I was explaining how we must accept Christ and the salvation He offers if we want to go to heaven when we die. One of the children said if someone was mistreated their whole life or had a really hard life, God would let them go to heaven because He would feel sorry for them. I had to explain to him this was not true, we must accept Christ as our Savior and be saved in order to get to heaven.
Once we do this, we will want to learn more about Him. We will grow in our love for Him and our knowledge of Him. As we grow in Him, we will strive to be more obedient. We won’t want to sin. It doesn’t mean we will never sin; it just means we will strive not to. We will strive for righteousness.
Moses had not wanted to be the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God had called him to do this. Moses had begged God to send someone else, but God wanted him to do it. Moses had suffered with these people and their constant grumbling and complaining for almost 40 years at this point.
If anyone deserved to have their sin or disobedience overlooked, it was Moses. But this isn’t how it works with God. God doesn’t play favorites. Even though Moses had been working for the Lord and been obedient to Him all these years, this one act of disobedience cost him the opportunity to enter the Promised Land.
Just as Moses was denied entry to the Promised Land, we must understand that our disobedience will not be overlooked. It could cost us a great deal.
There was a time in my life when I had come through some hard times. I thought God would just overlook my sin. I listened to the devil’s lies. The devil told me God would understand. The devil told me God would not count my sin against me. The devil told me God would give me a pass. These were all lies.
God doesn’t overlook sin no matter who you are, what you’ve been through or what you’ve done for him. If He didn’t overlook Moses’ slip-up what makes you think He will overlook yours? No matter what we go through, no matter how hard we work for the Lord, our disobedience will not be tolerated. There will be a price to pay.
We will face temptations in this world, but we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:13 no temptation has overtaken us except what is common to humanity. Everyone is facing temptation. We must remember God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle. He will also provide a way of escape, so we are able to bear it.
Stay close to God, trust in Him and obey Him. Don’t believe the devil when he lies and tells you God will give you a free pass because you have come through difficult times or because you have worked so hard for Him. Know that God doesn’t play favorites. Each one of us will face judgment.
The next time you are tempted to disobey God, I encourage you to remember this.
Have a great day!