18 JULY

AT WHAT COST?

“Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses … Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,‘Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together.Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water;(Numbers 20:2-8, NKJV)

The Israelites were at it again. They had forgotten how God made the rock bring out water for them at Rephidim. They had forgotten their daily miraculous food of manna. They had forgotten the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptians. No water again? Their grumbling, complaining, quarrelling and threats were getting Moses really distressed and very angry.

Moses went off to pray and cry out to God, as usual, but his anger was not that easily subdued. God told him, “Speak to the rock…” Sadly, anger has a blinding and deafening effect. Numbers 20:10-11 reveals that contrary to God’s instruction, “Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly…..” By using the word, we, was Moses equating his power in unity and at par with God’s power? Water indeed gushed out of the rock and the people drank but Moses, this great servant of God, had gone beyond the line God had drawn. The cost was high. There is a cost or consequence for every disobedience. Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land. When we do not deal with our weaknesses, they will deal with us. In 2013, Associated Press published a story on a robber. Arthur Bundrage approached a Syracuse, New York, bank cashier and demanded $20,000. When he got home, he discovered he had been given less. He was so blinded by his rage that, without thinking, he stormed back to the bank to get the balance and tell them off. That’s when he was arrested.

ACTION: Examine your life for any moral or character flaw and take decisions on how to handle it.

PRAYER: Father God, please cleanse me from wilful sin and reveal and cleanse me from any secret sin that I commit and do not see or recognise as a sin.