In this wilderness journey, the people come again to Kadesh. 38 years they had wandered through the desert. As God led him, Moses led despite their grumbling, bitter, faithless attitudes. With great humility, Moses demonstrated to the people to always seek God for the answer. It was God’s Glory that stood front and center in Moses’ heart. He grew weary at times; yet, when push came to shove, he remained always willing to sacrifice himself for the people. Then, in a moment of utter frustration we see Moses lose his temper and disobey God as he struck the rock. His order had been to speak to the rock in God’s name. Water came forth; however, Moses would not be allowed into the promised land. So, when failure and victory collide, what then?
Oh certainly, we can empathize with Moses. From the last time they stood here on the precipice of entering the promised land until now 38 years had passed. They had been forced to wander in the wilderness, burying their dead. Imagine burying over a million people. All of this because of their lack of faith, their bitter grumbling, and their failure to worship God, though He had guided them every step of the journey. God had provided everything they needed from shelter to food. He organized everything to provide protection; yet, they failed to honor God. Their failure and grumbling against God led to their being turned back into the wilderness. Now here they stood once more, nearly ready to enter and once more they began the grumbling. Imagine the frustration of Moses. Was this to be another failure? Could failure and Victory Collide, still displaying God’s Glory?
Ah, but there was more to this story.
When Failure and Victory Collide, God
Moses, we could say was still mourning his sister’s death when the people began to grumble about their lack of water. They didn’t bow before God to ask for His provision. Instead, they murmured to Moses. He and Aaron went before God.
(They bowed) down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 8 “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak[m] to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth[n] its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.” (Numbers 20:6-8 NET).
Yet, when Moses went back out before the crowd, failure and victory collide. Failure on the part of Moses to follow the instructions, yet victory in that God provided the water anyway.
Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels,[o] must we bring[p] water out of this rock for you?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly (Numbers 20:10-11).
Notice, Moses did not “God will provide and speak to the rock as instructed, demonstrating God’s mercy. Instead he said, “must WE bring water”. Once before Moses had struck a rock for water. But the rock was to be a symbol of Christ who was struck only once for our sins. Moses missed that and he disobeyed God.
So, what are the lessons for us from Numbers 20?
LESSONS WHEN FAILURE AND VICTORY COLLIDE
- God is faithful to accomplish all that He has planned, despite our failures. The salvation of the people was not dependent on Moses; but God only. When failure and victory collide, it is God’s victory despite our failure.
- No one can lead us into the promised land but God Himself. Jesus, God Incarnate, came to live among us, to die and to pay the penalty for our sin. He said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.[b] No one comes to the Father except through ” (John 14:6). Only through Jesus Christ, can we be saved.
- Moses, after all, though very faithful was just a man; not the Savior. Perhaps God allowed Moses to fail so that we nor the people would worship Moses instead of God. Was that fair? Yes! Besides, we must know we are never so righteous ourselves that we cannot fail in our own strength. Indeed, in our own strength we will fail.
- Although our failures may prevent our reaching success here on earth, we have a heavenly home awaiting. Moses saw that when God called Aaron home and said, “Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors.” This phrase indicated that Aaron went to be with God.
- Furthermore, when Jesus stood on the mount of transfiguration, Moses stood there with Him. Not only did Moses go to heaven, but at that moment with Jesus, Moses stood on the promised land. Then two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with him (Jesus). 31 They appeared in glorious splendor and spoke about his departure that he was about to carry out at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31 NET). Moses knew that Jesus was going to die on the cross to pay the price for all sin, even his! Think of that!
Concluding thoughts:
Wherever you are along this journey, never forget God is there. He is Sovereign, don’t let your guilt and your sorrow remain. Run to the foot of the cross and know this, Jesus is there always making intercession for you. Men will fail you, but God will never fail you. He is the Joy, the Hope, and the Victory you so long for.
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because, He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
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