Misused And Abused

Misused and Abused

Scripture Reference: Numbers 20:7-12 (KJV)

7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

I would like to take this opportunity and take the word misuse break it in half and tell a short story about it.

I met this woman named Miss Use she was so beautiful. She had beautiful skin a great sense of humor and was more than understanding of my situation. I mean Miss Use was fully aware of the fact that I was married and she still never had a problem with us talking late night while my wife wasn’t around. She would never disrespect me and would always say the kindest things. She was a close friend even to my kids. They loved her. The people of the church thought that she was the best thing that ever could have happened to the church. She was very helpful to everyone in the church I mean what man could have asked for a better secretary. We had so much in common we liked so many of the same things that it seemed that God made her especially for me. Although I hear the voice of God in the distance saying, “Go home and leave her alone“, maybe this is the one time that even God doesn’t recognize true love. I mean she liked the same sports I liked, the same food I liked, our birthdays were even around the same time and we would even go as far as to celebrate them together. Whenever she had a problem Miss Use would not hesitate to come to me and I would not hesitate to help in any way that I could. It was great. What man could have asked for a better secretary. It seemed as though I could do no wrong in her eyes. I don’t understand what could have ever happened. When I told her I was about to leave my wife she seemed so excited she said that she was happy about the fact that I was going to get what I wanted finally. Why is it that now that I have left my wife and family she doesn’t seem to have as much time for me as she used to. It seems as though now that I have dropped everything that I was doing her interest have somehow changed. Now what am I supposed to do? How could I be such an idiot? Ohh my God.

This is a story that could have just as easily been called “Misunderstood” but in any case Miss Use was not the answer. This man could have saved himself a lot of heartache and pain had he listened to and obeyed the voice of the true and living God.

Today’s scripture is somewhat similar to this situation. It is about Moses and how he misused his rod and abused the rock. This “easy to avoid” action caused him to never enter the promised land. (Exodus 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.). This rod was the first thing that God used to prove to Moses that He was who He was that the people might believe Moses when he told them