Numbers 20:1-13
Water From the Rock
20 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell face down, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
13 These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.
This is happening toward the end of the 40 years in the desert. God has been leading and caring for His people for a long time. And they are still grumbling!
Why couldn’t they look back and see how God had been faithful to care for them all along?
I can ask myself that question, too. Am I fearful with everything happening around me? Am I worried that I won’t have whatever I need?
LOOK BACK! You’ve survived everything up to now.
Maybe it is because we are getting older. My girlfriend (older than I am) and I have been looking back over our lives and all we’ve been through. We are in awe at God’s Faithfulness. We thought everything was falling apart. We wondered how we’d get through the immense issues we faced that we feared would destroy us. We look back on how worried we were, on how hopeless we sometimes felt, on how we wondered if we could go on.
But we did go on. We made it through. We see how God was with us, holding us, teaching us, making us stronger, loving us and our children. We are amazed… and thankful … and grateful.
We can look at the future knowing we are older, our circumstances are different, but God is NOT. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” He was and is faithful to never leave us and to take care of us then … and today … and tomorrow.
Almost 40 years of listening to the Israelites grumble and complain, I’m surprised that Moses didn’t use his staff on the people, instead of just the rock!
Luke 1: 1-35
1. Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2. just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4. so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Sounds like had had read some of the other accounts and he had more to add.
18. Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19. The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”
34.“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35. The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Zechariah asks a question and the angel says his question showed he didn’t believe. So he would not be able to speak until after the baby was born.
Mary asks a question and the angel just answers the question… no rebuke for unbelief.
It must be that asking questions is not always unbelief. What matters how we ask the question??? Is our heart right???