Spiritual Thought - Loosing Perspective
The LORD said to Moses, "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."
So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. 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?" Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
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."
Numbers 20:7-12
(A complete account of this story can be found in Exodus 17:1-6, Numbers 20 1-13 and Deuteronomy 31:1-8)
I always thought that Moses was denied access to the promise land because of his disobedience by striking the rock instead of speaking to the rock at Meribah. Yet, I learned a deeper meaning to this story when I visited a patient recently. The patient shared that Moses used the pronoun “we” when chastising the Hebrew people, insinuating that he and God were equal. Moses had lost perspective, becoming irritated with his people, therefore he didn’t follow God’s instructions. Moses was disobedient; and his loss of perspective under-girded his wayward action.
I feel for him. After all, he had served God faithfully – leading a very difficult people through the wilderness, had heard all the whining he could stand, and acted out his frustration. Yet, God reveals to Moses the significance of his actions, “… you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy…” By dishonoring God with his presumption, Moses demonstrated that is was no longer capable of servant leadership, the kind of servant heart needed to lead the Israelites into the Promise Land. Moses failed to remember that he was one of the Israelites; and although Moses was a great leader, he did not have what was needed to proceed. In one brief moment, Moses heart was made known.
I must admit that I act in this way at times. Losing perspective is so easy for myself and others to do. In the passion of our service, we may tend to press forward toward an accomplishment without reflecting on who is calling us to serve. When we lose our perspective of God’s leadership and God’s holy position in our serving experiences, we are prone to stray and/or even sin.
The Lord calls us to trust God enough to honor God in the sight of all people. May we do so and remain true to serve in honor of the One who calls us!
Joseph F. Perez, M. Div., BCC
Vice President, Pastoral Services
Office: 956-389-1194