God's holiness

This morning I read a familiar Bible story in my devotional time. It is in Numbers 19:10-13. Here's the situation: Israel is wandering in the desert, complaining that they have no water. Moses and Aaron then seek the Lord's direction. God tells Moses to speak to a rock and water will come out of the rock for all of Israel (hundreds of thousands if not millions, of people, plus animals). Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses hits it twice with his staff. In a gracious response, God still provides water in spite of Moses directly disobeying God's command. As a consequence, Moses and Aaron are not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

I have heard that story many times, usually in a lesson teaching the necessity of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. In other words, when this passage of Scripture is taught, it is often about Moses. The problem (which I realized this morning) is that it is not about Moses. It is about God.

The key sentence in the passage is this: "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."

Go back and read the first part of that quotation again. Clearly, God says that what matters most is Him. That's not to say that obedience does not matter, but what matters most is God and His holiness. It is God and His character (specifically, in this passage, His holiness) that is of utmost importance. What this passage teaches us is that our indifference and disobedience to God's Word not only hinders our relationship with Him, but it mars His character in the eyes of others.

Moses failure was not so much in hitting the rock instead of speaking to it, but in failing to uphold God as infinitely holy in the eyes of the people. That should be every Christian's goal: to make sure that when people see you--what you do and what you say--they should see God's holiness.