Numbers 20:7-12 (NLT)
And the Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.” So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!”
Moses was in a pickle. There were over 600,000 Israelites wandering through the wilderness (because of their sins). They were tired and hungry and, in this case, thirsty and they all blamed him. Even though God used him to deliver them all from a life of slavery in Egypt, they constantly complained and even threatened Moses. Each time this would happen, Moses would hit his knees falling face-first before the Lord, seeking the Lord’s provision.
Here, we see God commanding Moses to simply speak to a rock. If Moses would just speak to the rock, water would begin to pour out of it. But for some reason, Moses saw fit to strike the rock with his staff instead. Even though water still poured out from the rock, Moses had disobeyed God. Because of his disobedience in this specific instance, God took from Moses the privilege to lead the Israelites into the long-awaited Promised Land.
We can learn something from this.
When we find ourselves in overwhelming situations, we know we should seek the Lord. We know we should seek His provision and His solution. A great number of us understand this concept but we still tackle situation after situation with only our common sense. Because of this, we miss out on the many blessings God has for us if we would just trust Him to provide for us in our time of need.
So today, when you’re faced with a situation that you don’t understand, call on the Lord and seek His face. Don’t try to fix it using your own common sense. Instead, place your trust in the creator of the universe and walk by faith with the knowledge that we serve a great, great God. One who is plenty big enough to provide for us in any situation we’ll ever face.
Just speak to the rock.
