Moses: deliverer of Israelites from slavery, leader of the Israelites in the wilderness, received Ten Commandments from God, wrote first five books of the Bible and Psalm 90.
Moses was an unwilling leader.
Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
He knew his own weaknesses and God knew them even better, and still He chose him. Isn't that amazing? Have you noticed that God chooses ordinary, every day people to do His work? These were His people and though I can't imagine anyone standing up and saying, "Pick me! Pick me!...to wander in the wilderness for forty years, while listening to hundred of thousands grumbling, ungrateful people," what I have read is that no one says "no" when God asks him/her to do something. He equips them. He leads them and they are never alone.
So, perhaps Moses took some personal liberties when his followers were thirsty and suffering and begging for water. And God told him to speak to the rock and water would come forth. Instead, Moses struck the rock with his staff. Yes, water came out and the people's thirsts were quenched. Do you think at that point Moses thought all was well? He put himself on the high ground. How high is the ground you stand on? Why do we think we must do things OUR way?
So often, we try to take the glory from God. We exalt ourselves by letting others see our good works or by the way we slant a story about a good deed done. Shame on us and shame on Moses.
Numbers 20:8-12 "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."
9 And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
10 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?"
11 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.
12 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 Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them."
So Moses could not go into the Promised Land with his people that he had led for forty years. What is wrong with that sentence? It was God's people he was leading, with God supplying all of their needs. How often do we forget our weaknesses and humanness! We are glory seekers!
Moses begged God to allow him to enter the Promised Land, but He said, "Stop asking. No."
Deuteronomy 3:24-27 'O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
25 Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.'
26 But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, 'Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.
27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan.
The most he could do was climb a mountain and look across to the land of milk and honey. He looked over into all that was promised...the reward for decades of hard work...the prize at he end of the journey. God allowed him this high ground. But God shares His glory with no one...not Moses, not me, not you. So, let's take this to heart. God gets all glory. He will have it in the end with an audience of everyone. And Moses will be there, too.
Revelation 5:13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
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