Speaking to the Rock

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 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 20:7-11 ESV). God had shown Moses that He could bring water from a rock before. Moses had struck a rock with the staff and seen a gusher come out to quench the thirst of the people. There is something different about this occasion, however, notice the highlighted verse. The first time Moses struck the rock with water, he was obeying God exactly. God was pleased, Moses was rewarded, and the people were satisfied. This time, God is not happy, Moses loses reward, and we are left to examine why. Do you see a difference in what God commanded and what Moses did? Read the verses again. God said to "speak" the water out of the rock. Moses struck the rock with his stick two times. Moses may have thought to himself, "God, this is a hard rock. To get water out of this rock, I'm going to have to strike it like I did before." Moses, however, did not fully obey God, and God was not pleased. Thankfully, God didn't punish the people for Moses' disobedience. The first time, God had Moses strike the rock. No doubt this took great faith on the part of Moses. Who ever heard of water coming out of a rock? Moses may have looked pretty silly banging on that rock had water not come out. The second time, God called Moses to have even greater faith. Moses was to simply speak and the water would come out. Now you may be thinking what I thought the first time I read this: Big Deal! But, it was a big deal. God wanted Moses to grow in his faith. God wanted to see evidence of his deeper faith. As we grow in our Christian life, God will require more of us. In fact, what He calls us to do won't always make sense, at least not from a natural perspective. But when God calls us to do something, we are to do exactly as He tells us to do! God wants to see that our faith in Him is growing. God’s commands are not random or without purpose. He sees the future when we can only see the present. Trust him with your future. It will always be better that way!