READ:
NUMBERS 20:1-12
In Genesis
3:1-6, when Satan was to tempt Adam and Eve, he came to the woman. Why? He
likes to exploit our weaknesses. 1 Peter 3:7 says the woman is the weaker
vessel. He likes to speak to you at your moment of weakness, when you appear most
vulnerable. He knows if he comes to you in your moment of strength, he stands
no chance against you. Watch out when you are angry, bitter, spiritually weak,
facing lack or starvation. The voice you will hear at such times must be given
serious thought otherwise you would fall into Satan’s trap before realising it.
In our reading today, the Lord instructed Moses to gather the congregation together so that He can repeat a miracle He once did. In Exodus 17:5-7, the Lord asked Moses to strike the Rock (Jesus) and water came out for them to drink. Much later, when they faced lack of water, the Lord asked Moses to take his rod and speak, (not to strike) the rock for the same reason. But Moses was angry with them for all the preceding protests and you know he had a first class (honours) in anger. So Satan capitalised on this opportunity. He came and told him, ‘Go ahead and unleash your anger on these rebels who do not deserve the water they are almost lynching you for. Anyway because you are merciful, go ahead and give them water. But you remember the other time you did it, you struck the rock once. Since this is the second time, strike it twice.’
To Moses, this was logical. His state of anger did not make him to compare this voice with the original instruction God gave, so he struck the rock twice and more water came out even than they could even handle. But that act of disobedience terminated his ministry and robbed him of entry into the Promised Land. There is a height in disobedience where a believer gets to and which he never recovers from. Moses got there through anger and he never recovered from it. May you never get to that danger point in Jesus name. You cannot imagine the consequences of obeying Satan’s voice rather than God’s. In your moments of weakness, you need to be more prayerful, swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to act. Subject every thought or voice that comes to you at such times to serious scrutiny and prayer before you act. People may call you Mr Meticulous, it is okay. You know what you are guarding against.
In our reading today, the Lord instructed Moses to gather the congregation together so that He can repeat a miracle He once did. In Exodus 17:5-7, the Lord asked Moses to strike the Rock (Jesus) and water came out for them to drink. Much later, when they faced lack of water, the Lord asked Moses to take his rod and speak, (not to strike) the rock for the same reason. But Moses was angry with them for all the preceding protests and you know he had a first class (honours) in anger. So Satan capitalised on this opportunity. He came and told him, ‘Go ahead and unleash your anger on these rebels who do not deserve the water they are almost lynching you for. Anyway because you are merciful, go ahead and give them water. But you remember the other time you did it, you struck the rock once. Since this is the second time, strike it twice.’
To Moses, this was logical. His state of anger did not make him to compare this voice with the original instruction God gave, so he struck the rock twice and more water came out even than they could even handle. But that act of disobedience terminated his ministry and robbed him of entry into the Promised Land. There is a height in disobedience where a believer gets to and which he never recovers from. Moses got there through anger and he never recovered from it. May you never get to that danger point in Jesus name. You cannot imagine the consequences of obeying Satan’s voice rather than God’s. In your moments of weakness, you need to be more prayerful, swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to act. Subject every thought or voice that comes to you at such times to serious scrutiny and prayer before you act. People may call you Mr Meticulous, it is okay. You know what you are guarding against.
MEMORIZE:
1 CORINTHIANS 9:27 –But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection;
lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway.
