“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.”… 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. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of
Now Moses fails. It seems to me that he fails in two ways. First, he didn’t do what he was told. Moses struck the rock (twice) instead of speaking to it. Striking the rock is how water came out earlier and in a similar situation, so Moses does it again (Ex 17:1-7; note: both here and there, they called the place Meribah, meaning quarreling).
Secondly, Moses takes credit for the water coming forth. He is not with the ‘rebels,’ he is with the group that is bringing the complainers their water. He de-gods God by setting himself as the co-provider of the people.
Disobedience and pride – both stem from a lack of faith. We don’t obey because we don’t think God can handle it. We want the credit and status so we see our role as primary, God’s as secondary. Without a clear view of the Lord, we become the one in the driver’s seat. Faith keeps the Lord on the throne and His glory as the motivation for our work. Faith focuses our vision by clarifying the truth: the Lord is our provider.
