Thought from today’s Bible reading from Numbers 18-20.
On this particular occasion when the Israelites complained as they usually did, God provided for them, but punished Moses.
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.’
“So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, ‘Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?’ Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
“But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons is Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them’” (Numbers 20:7-12).
God gave Moses a simple instruction: speak to the rock. Yet Moses struck the rock instead. The end result was the same – the people received water – but Moses’ actions were still condemned.
By disobeying the Lord’s instruction, Moses did two things: he acted in unbelief and he failed to treat God as holy. We do these same things today when we disobey God’s commands. Obedience is a sign of belief (James 2:24,26). Therefore, disobedience is a sign of unbelief. Obedience is also a sign that we respect and love the Lord (Luke 6:46; 1 John 5:3). Therefore, disobedience is a sign that we are not honoring God as we should.
As with Moses, the final result is irrelevant. Though many will argue that the ends justify the means, that simply is not the case when it comes to our service to God. We must follow His pattern and obey His will in all things.
Tomorrow’s reading: Numbers 21-22
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
