The most difficult and pervasive problem the human creature has is the problem of letting God Be God!
Because of the fact that at times, All of us Project A Stubborn Opposition, even a Religious Resistance to Authentic Authority and Legitimate Leadership. For we Opt For Kadesh (the Sacrilegious Sanctuary of Satan) rather than Canaan (the Sacred Sanctuary of the Sovereign Savior) and, because of our Personal Preference of Prominent People From Our Perspective Over the Personal Presence of the Holy God. And thus, we have a Problem with Letting God Be God.
This problem manifests itself most clearly in a Human Crisis that Threatens Human Existence!
In the case before us, it was A Crisis of a Lack of Water. The issue for the Israelites was a Lack of Drinking Water. Verse 2 says that when the whole congregation abode in Kadesh in the desert of Zin, “there was No Water for the congregation.”
Now, one would think in such a crisis a people would meet for the Business of Prayer and Seeking the Will and Word of God. A Crisis ought to suggest a Conference with Christ! But, instead, Israel meet for the Business of Expressing their Displeasure with Moses’ Leadership and Exposing their Disapproval of Moses as a Person: THEY CHODE WITH MOSES, and thus, Opposed God’s Authority!
Its significant to note that in the human situation a Crisis evokes Finger-Pointing and Assessing Blame. It is fascinating to note how we find the time to play the blame game when the lights are turned off, the water disconnected or the car is repossessed. Instead of huddling in hope with God for divine directives, we waste time and energy in hurtful language venting our frustration and disappointment. Now the madness of that activity is seen if one of my children should be swinging in a swing and suddenly falls and injures their head seriously. And if my response to that crisis would be to rush to their side and commence to scold them for swinging too high instead of offering first aid or getting help immediately.
And yet, way-too-much and much-too-often, we Meet for the Business of Expressing Our Displeasure and Exposing Our Disapproval rather than for the Business of Prayer and Seeking the Will and Word of God. Verse 2 says that as a response to their crisis situation that the people “gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people Chode with Moses …”
Now the issue is: How shall we deal with this Problem of “Letting God Be God” particularly in Human Crises? I wonder, are you interested? If so, I want to offer Two Suggestions as to How we might deal with this problem of Letting God Be God.
I. First, I would suggest that We Refrain From Rebelling Against God In A Crisis-Situation.
As a response to their Fear, the whole congregation gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and Chode With Moses.
The word “chode” in its simplest form means “to oppose the authority or leadership of another by means of Arguing and Fighting with Words.” With words, the whole congregation expressed their Displeasure with the Leadership of Moses and exposed their Disapproval of Him as a Person. Their questions seems to suggest that it was all Moses’ idea to leave Egypt, that Moses had taken this task upon himself and that they had no option but to come along. They asked, “Why have YOU brought up the congregation of the LORD… Why have You made us to come up out of Egypt …?”
They also began to Question and Doubt the Good and Gracious Purpose of God in delivering them from Egypt. For they seem to be suggesting in verse 4 that the purpose of bringing them into the wilderness was in order that they and their cattle should die there. And in verse 5 they seem to be suggesting that the purpose of delivering them from Egypt was in order that they might be brought into an evil place.
Their Fear, you see, forced them to question the Cause, the Reason, the Purpose of God! They could find no rhyme or reason for their present predicament; so, they CHODE with Moses!
And that is significant, for oftentimes while been Led of the Lord we are brought into crisis situations which manifest the character and quality of our Faith. Waterless Places sometimes cause us to second-guess whether or not it was the Lord whom we heard. For somehow we think that following the lead of the Lord does not entail any problems or cares; that being led of the Spirit exempts us from all trials, pain, sickness, family or marital problems and financial difficulties. And so, when we meet Waterless Places we conclude that it was a mistake to listen to that Preacher, or perhaps it wasn’t the Lord at all.
We allow our Fears to persuade us the Purposes of God are not reliable. In our panic attacks and fear-frames we lean to the fallacy that the Lord delivers us from sin to bring us into evil; that the Lord redeems us from captivity to lead us into bondage; that the lord brings us out of one mess just to entrap us in another mess; that in fact the Lord has brought us this far just to leave us!!! I wonder, Can you relate?
Now we must understand that there is an Anxiety, a Fear, a Sense of the Void in all of us. It is the Fear that we may Lose Our Existence; the Fear that we might Lose Our Power To Be and Continue In Being! We are all dimly aware that we do not finally control our own being; aware that all too easily Something or Some Force or Some Crisis can snatch our life away from us. Witness the sudden attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon. Those two acts brought to the consciousness of America that we aren’t as invulnerable as we thought or were led to believe. Because just board knives and airplanes tickets terrorized the power centers of this country.
We also know that our existence is given to us and not created by us; we know that we are merely brought into being, and so, we can easily be taken out of being by the powers that surround us; we know that there is nothing essential, necessary or self-derived about us; and we know that it is only by the good management of the Lord that we can continue in being at all. But yet, at the same time, we rebel against God and refuse to Let Him be God in our life!
In Waterless Places, our behavior witnesses to the fact that we Act in order to Survive. Waterless Places call forth in us the need to buttress our Security that guarantees our Survival. But we search not only for security from others but also for power over others. We are driven to establish power over other beings to protect our existence; and so, we CHIDE with them!
To take just a few examples. In Waterless Places, we seek material or financial security against the immediate threats or perils to our life, such as hunger or cold or thirst: for we figure that if we have enough money or material wealth, we can buy whatever we need to keep our life in existence. We also seek the power to guarantee for the future the jobs or the status that gives us that security. Those of us in professional life grasp for power in the
strangest sorts of ways. For we are continually building defenses for our jobs and our careers ( which in turn defend our security) by all sorts of political and public relations maneuvers at the office, the ministerial conferences or on our faculty. And then we seek, if we can, to gain a name, a distinguished reputation so that our status in our professional world, and thus our work and its value, will be secure for the future.
Thus, we each feel deep anxiety if anyone in our professional world gains more of a name than we do, achieves a rank or an honor beyond what we possess, or in any other way moves closer to what we feel to be the real centers of power and security in our world.
Therefore, our hunger for wealth, prominence and place in Waterless Places is, in part, an effort to amass in some form or another so as to guard against the threats that can snatch from our hands these protections for our security and so for our existence. So, as a response, we Chide with others!!!
So let me suggest that in order to Let God Be God in Waterless Places, we must deal with this Fear of Not Being. And the only way to deal effectively with is it: TO TRUST IN THE LORD!!! We must be able to place our confidence in God’s Ability to Provide for All our needs in Waterless Places. We must trust His Gracious Purpose in bringing us to what we call “evil Places,” for God can and will do “good things” in evil places. We must resolve in our souls that all things do In fact work together for good to them who love the Lord, who are the called according to His purpose. But we must take the weight of caring for our own welfare out of our feeble hands and entrust it into the strong hands of the Lord our God; for He cares for us!!!
My hearers, listen to me. It is in Waterless Places that we must Learn to be Content! For the fact of the matter is, in our Deserts of Zin and our Encampments of Kadesh, in our Deserts of Shortages, God loves to Display His Sufficiency! In Our Lack we must Learn to Lean on the Lord’s Love.
Trust His Faithfulness, for it is still a proven fact that “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
So, amid your Water Bills, your Gas Bills, Your Rent, Mortgage Payments and Grocery Bills, DON’T CHIDE, JUST CALL! Call upon the Name of Lord, and He will deliver you. Rest in the Lord and do good.
Let me offer a Second Suggestion as to How we might deal with this Problem of Letting God Be God.
II. Second, I would suggest that WE REFUSE THE TEMPTATION TO ROB GOD OF HIS GLORY.
Now if you would notice in Verse 10 that, as a response to the People’s Chiding, Moses reacted in Anger, and Spoke Rashly with His Mouth.
In verse 8 the Lord had told Moses what to do. But when he spoke in verse 10, it was not the Lord speaking, but the Anger of Moses. For he said: “Hear now, ye rebels; must we (that is, Me and Aaron and not the Lord Alone) fetch you water out of this rock?” Oh what a grave mistake! To put Ourselves in The Place Of God!!! To Attribute the Work of God To Ourselves! To ascribe To Ourselves the Glory and Honor and Praise that is due to God Alone! And yet, we do this Often and Carelessly!
Out of Anger, a parent tells his/her child I feed you. I put clothes on your back. I put a roof over your head."
Out of Anger, a husband tells his wife “I provide for you. I protect you. I have kept you safe and sound.”
Out of Anger, an employer tells his employee “I pay your salary. I’m the one keeping you off the welfare roll. If it wasn’t for me, you would be outdoors.”
But in all of those instances, they are all wrong! It is the Lord thru the parent who provides food, clothing and shelter for the child. It is the Lord thru that husband who provides, protects and nurtures that wife. It is the Lord thru that employer who pays the wages of that employee. Don’t Rob God Of His Glory by Speaking Rashly With Your Mouth!!
Let me offer some suggestions on How we can deal with the Problem of Yielding to the Temptation of Robbing God; for the Mood and Movements of Moses and Aaron, the Prophet and Priest, in Verses 6-9, reveal How we are to React to the Chiding of Rebellious People.
First, its imperative that WE ESCAPE AS QUICKLY AS WE CAN FROM THEIR PRESENCE. Verse 6a says that “Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Find that Secret Place, that Hiding Place from the wrath of people. Don’t hang around to retaliate or answer back. Just Leave! For staying in their presence will only escalate into something sinful and hurtful. For somewhere I read that “He that dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Somewhere I read “Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler … He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust.” Somewhere I read “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.” So, Just Leave!!!
If we are to deal with the problem of Yielding to the Temptation of Robbing God, then the Second Thing we must do is FALL DOWN IN A POSTURE OF PRAYER AND PRAISE BEFORE THE LORD. Verse 6b says that after Moses and Aaron had escaped from the presence of the people that “they Fell Upon Their Faces.” After finding that secret place, we need to Break Down and Lift Up. That is break down to our knees in prayer and raise our hands in praise. Just have a little talk with Jesus and tell Him all about your troubles. Tell the Lord. You must tell Jesus all your troubles, you cannot bear them alone. Just tell Jesus!!!
The Third Suggestion I would make in reacting to the Chiding of rebellious people is WAIT IN PRAYER AND PRAISE FOR A MANIFESTATION OF THE LORD. Verse 6c says that “the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.” As a consequence of Moses and Aaron falling on their faces, the Glory of the Lord appeared unto them. If we would roll ourselves on the Lord, He will show up. If we would humble ourselves in His sight, He will lift us up with a manifestation of His Sensed Presence. He’ll Show Up I tell you.
The Fourth Suggestion I offer in Not Yielding to the Temptation of Robbing God is TO DO EXACTLY AS THE LORD COMMANDS. Verses 7-9 say: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.” You must understand that Moses did not do all that the Lord had commanded him; he just took the rod as the Lord commanded him. He did not Speak to the rock; he struck the rock twice. He did not do exactly as the Lord commanded.
And that is significant, because oftentimes, we, like Moses, do partial obedience. We’ll pray for those who persecute us but we’ll curse those who curse us. We’ll love our friends but hate our enemies. We’ll give our tithes but withhold our offerings. We do Partial Obedience. But we fail to realize that partial obedience ends in Total Failure! In order to be blessed of the Lord, we must do exactly as he commands us.
In order to deal with the problem of Yielding to the Temptation of Robbing God we must 1) Escape as quickly as we can from the Presence of Rebellious Folk, 2) Fall Down in a Posture of Prayer and Praise before the Lord, 3) Wait There for a Manifestation of the Lord and 4) Do Exactly as the Lord Commands Us. But there is One other suggestion I want to offer as how to deal with the Temptation of Robbing God.
Fifth and most importantly, we must never Rob God of His Glory because THERE IS A SEVERE CONSEQUENCE IF WE DO SO. Verse 12 says that “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.”
Now I believe that none of us can afford our work being cut short! None of us can afford the loss of our reward! None of us want to carry the ball to the goal and fumble it!!! None of us want to labor long years and bear heavy burdens to have it all go for nought. So, let us Not Rob God of His Glory.
And we are learning that God will not stand by and let anyone rob Him of His glory. For in Isaiah 42:8 He has said to all of us, “I am the LORD: that is My Name: and My Glory Will I Not Give To Another, neither My Praise To Graven Images.”
Let me conclude with this thought.
III. This passage brings to mind THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE WORDS AND ACTIONS OF MEN AND THE WORDS AND ACTIONS OF GOD - BECAUSE WATER DID POUR FORTH FROM THAT ROCK IN SPITE OF WHAT GOD’S LEADERS HAD DONE!
For Verse 11 says that “Moses lifted up his hand, and with the rod he smote the rock twice”; but In Spite Of That, this verse also says that “the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.”
And so, I submit to us that IN SPITE OF WHAT WE DO OR SAY, GOD WILL BE GOD!
Job testified to this fact when he said: “But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, even that he does. For He performs the thing that is appointed for me.”
The apostle Paul testified to this fact when he wrote: “If we believe not, yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself.”
And the Lord Himself testified in Isaiah saying: “I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure … Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass: I have purposed it, I will also do it.”
No wonder, then, that “all things work together for good to them that Love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” ‘Cause GOD IS GOING TO BE GOD IN SPITE OF WHAT WE SAY OR DO!
Now if you doubt that, just lend me your ear for a few minutes more as I seek to prove it.
GOD WAS STILL GOD IN SPITE OF Pharaoh’s words of: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go,” he said. But yet, after a little while and an awesome display of God’s Power, Pharaoh did let them go!
IN SPITE OF Sanballat’s attempt to stop the work of God thru Nehemiah in rebuilding the Wall thru deceptive calls for a conference at which the enemy intended to harm Nehemiah and smear tactics, attempts to force Nehemiah into religious compromise and the pressure of naïve friends; GOD STILL WAS GOD AND THE WALL WAS COMPLETED!
IN SPITE OF Satan’s attempt to get Job to curse God to His face, Job did not sin nor charge God foolishly; and GOD WAS STILL GOD!
And, IN SPITE OF THE FACT that “the chief priests and Pharisee came together unto Pilate and said, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away and say unto the people, He is risen from dead: so that the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as you can. So, they went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch.”
But Yet, IN SPITE OF ALL OF THAT, “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the First day of the week … there came a great earthquake: for the angel of the lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it; and announced to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” GOD WAS GOD IN SPITE OF THEIR WORDS AND ACTIONS!
If we don’t Let Him Be God, then He’s going to Be God Anyhow. He Cannot Be Other Than God!
I believe John the Divine made reference to this when he said in Revelation 19:12 of Christ that “On His Head were Many Crowns.”
On His Head is the Crown of Creation In Spite Of what the evolutionists are saying. The fact of the matter is “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
In Spite of what the Evolutionists say; His voice said “Let there be light and there was light.” It was His Strength that piled the mountains, and His Wisdom balances the clouds. He is Creator. If you lift your eyes to the upper spheres to behold the starry worlds - He Made Them. They are not self-created. He struck them off like sparks from the anvil of His Omnipotence; and they glitter, upheld and supported by His Might. He made the earth and all men that be upon it, the cattle upon a thousand hills, and the birds that make glad the air.
In Spite Of What the Scientists say, Christ Wears the Crown of Providence: for He sustains all things by the Word of His Power. Everything must cease to be, if it were not for the continual out-going of His Strength. The earth must die, the sun must grow dim with age and nature sinks in years, if Christ be not the God of Providence. He sends the howling blasts of winter; He, then, restrains them and breathes the breath of spring; He ripens the fruits of summer and He makes glad the autumn with His harvest.
All things know His will. The heart of the great universe beats by His Power; the very sea derives its tide form Him. Let Him once withdraw His hands, and the pillars of the earth tremble; the stars must fall like fig leaves from the tree, and all things must be quenched in the blackness of annihilation. On His Head is the Crown of Providence.
And next to this crown glitters the Crown of Grace. In Spite Of what the Legalists say, He Is the King of Grace. He gives or He withholds. The river of God’s mercy flows underneath His throne; He sits as the Sovereign in the dispensation of mercy. He has the key of heaven; He opens and no man shuts; He shuts and no man opens. He calls and the stubborn heart obeys; He wills and the rebellious spirit bends its knee; for He is Master of men, and when He wills to bless, none can refuse the benediction. He reigns in His church amid willing spirits; and He reigns for His church over all the nations of the world, that He may gather unto Himself a people that no man can number, who shall bow before the sceptre of His love.
Yes, In Spite Of What Nations are saying, “On His Head Are Many Crowns.”
A head which once in infancy reclined upon the bosom of a Woman!
A head which was meekly bowed in obedience to a carpenter!
A Head which in later years became a fountain of water and a reservoir of tears!
A head which “sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground!”
A head which was spit upon, whose hair was plucked!
A Head which in the grim agony of death, crowned with thorns, gave utterance to the terrible death-shriek, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
A Head whose visage was more marred than that of any other man.
A Head which suffered more from the tempests of heaven and of earth than any mortal brow before!
A Head which slept in the grave!
And A head which afterwards rose again from the tomb and looked with radiant eyes of love upon the holy women waiting at the sepulchre,
Is the Head of God In Spite Of What Men Say Or Do!
HE IS GOING TO BE GOD BECAUSE HE IS GOD!!!
So, I’ll say with Perronet:
“All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race,
Ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Let every kindred, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all.”
