Numbers 17-20
"Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice...and the water gushed out. So all the people and their livestock drank their fill." (20:11)
Moses was supposed to command the rock and instead he struck the rock. So, after all the times Moses has obeyed God's commands and after all the times he's trusted God, he does one little thing wrong and as a result, God's not going to allow Moses to be the one to lead the people into the promised land.
After reading this passage today, my first thought was, "Wow. It's no wonder people (including myself, at times) have this image of God, just waiting for us to mess up to He can punish us or withhold blessings from us."
But the more I began to meditate on it, I felt in my heart that God was saying, "Do you want me to start playing favorites, now? How fair would that be?"
The only fair and just thing for God to do was punish Moses for disobeying. I had just read and journaled a couple of days ago how a just and holy God does not ignore sin, it has grave consequences and now I was expecting Him to "ignore" Moses' sin because of all the times that he did obey? If He had ignored Moses sin, then He would be contradicting Himself.
Imagine if we lived in a society that believed in not punishing murderers for crimes they committed because of all the people they didn't kill! Or if we allowed our children to talk back to us because "most of the time they listen".
I'll bet God wished He didn't have to punish Moses. He desires to savor victories with us, He would have loved to see the look on Moses' face as He entered the promise land! To share that moment with the man He chose from the very beginning. Moses wasn't the only one that missed out....God did too.
I'm so thankful that I serve an unchanging God. One who never changes. He is who He says He is and He does what He says He'll do.
He doesn't play favorites and like any loving parent, He doesn't love us any less when He disciplines us.
He's just doing what He's gotta do.
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