I just finished listening to a podcast about Moses and the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. The teaching was about Living Waters and how Moses brought forth water from the rock for the people in Exodus 17 by striking the rock with his staff as God commanded him to. It also mentioned Numbers 20 where Moses is faced with the same situation (needing to provide water for the disgruntled Israelites) and is desiring the same results as last time, (water from the rock).
God tells Moses to take his staff, the same one from the last H2O lesson, and go to the rock and tell/ask the rock to bring forth water.
Seems easy enough right? But that's not what happens. Moses, in his frustration with the people and their constant griping and unnapreciativeness, strikes the rock with his staff 2 times.
It is this action alone that causes Moses to be unable to enter the long awaited promised land.
So, what happened? Was Moses not paying attention when God was giving the instructions? Or perhaps he was replaying his conversation with the nagging Hebrews over again in his head, thinking up just the right response to silence all the nay sayers.
If he is anything like me, then either of these could be true. There is also another possibility that dawned on me when I was wondering what would have been going through my head had I been in Moses' perdicament.
It seems as though we often times, as people capable of rationale and cognitive thought, treat the spiritual world like we do the physical world, making the presumption that it works the same way. In school we are taught that 2 + 2 = 4. If you mix chemicals A and B together you get an explosion. The verb describes theaction of the noun. In other words, follow the formula to acheive the desired results.
But God doesn't always work within the parameters of the "formula" we are familiar with; In fact, He rarely does.
I can't think of one time in my life where God has taught me something by doing or having me do the exact same thing I did last time he taught me something. God is always New. Even Jesus declared that He came to make all things new.
This is hard for us; well, at least for me it is. If I am having a problem with one of my children, I want to be able to follow the same formula that worked last time. I'd also like to be able to use the same procedure on each child and have them both magically see the error of their ways, but that never happens.
Moses had experienced success. He had a problem, he went to The Lord for a solution. He received the formula, followed it with 100% accuracy, and viola..... desired result acheived. The next time Moses came up against the same problem he went to God again, just like last time, he received the instruction, just like last time, AND he used the same formula of striking the rock, JUST LIKE LAST TIME.
I have had this "back to the drawing board" experience before. It's frustrating. We want things to work like a mathematical equation. We want the routine, repeditive, going throught the familiar motions, course of action. Why? Because it's easier; it's familiar; we are comfortable with it; it has a proven record of success with low probability of loss or injury.
Fortunately for us, God did not come to make all things routine. During Jesus' earthly ministry he healed many people. Lepers, demon posessed, lame, he even healed dead people. Jesus also healed the blind. It is interesting to note that out of all the recorded times he healed the blind, He never did it the same way twice. The gospel records a blind man who recognized Jesus as being the Messiah and Jesus tells him that his faith has healed him and then he is able to see. Another account lists two blind me who identify Jesus as The Son of David. Jesus touches them and their sight is restored. A third account identifies a man born blind from birth. Jesus spits in the dirt, makes a mud pie, puts it on the man's eyes, and tells him to go and wash in a certain pool, and upon doing so, the man's eyesight is healed.
Jesus is the Great I Am. He could have healed those people any way He wanted to. He could have done it the same way everytime, but He didn't. So, what is Jesus telling us?
He is showing us that the miracle is not in the mathematical formula. It isn't our action, it isn't the dirt mixed with spit, it isn't the laying on of hands, it isn't the staff striking the rock. The things of God are accessed and executed only by a personal, intimate and detailed relationship with Him and understanding of His words.
Every time we look to God, everytime we take a step, we should be watching and listening and carefully following His directions. This makes perfect sense if you stop to think about it. Our lives are constantly new. You never live the same day twice (unless you're Bill Murray and it's groundhog day). Each circumstance or set of problems is unique. As we grow and learn or responses and circumstances change as well. The formula that worked for us six months ago is not going to be what is needed today. I shouldn't expect this any more than I should expect my 10 year old daughter to continue cleaning her room the same way she did when she was 5. Yes, it may be a similair concept, but she is older now. She is more capable than before and I desire and expect for her to be grow in maturity and be able to follow more directions and do a more thourough job.
The same is true with our Heavenly Father. He wants us to grow, to mature. What was acceptable for us when we were baby Christians should not be the bar we measure success by when we have become adult Christians. Also, in this lesson we discover the truth layed out in all of scripture. That man can do nothing good outside of God. If we believe this, then we have to begin living each moment hanging on every Word from God. He didn't become flesh to reveal the correct formula, He became flesh to restore the broken relationship with Him and The Father. Through this healing, we are then to rely on The Holy Spirit to direct each and every action.
This can only happen if we are actually listening to what God is trying to tell us. How often do I, in my own life, try to produce water by using the old familiar formula of striking a rock, when God is telling me to simply ask Him and He will produce more water than I could ever imagine?
It's all about being with Him. Moving as He moves; facing the same direction; stepping where He says step, and only when He tells me to. The leading of The Holy Spirit, when followed, syncs us perfectly and completely with the moving of God. Think of it like the most beautifully choreographed dance in all the universe, only we don't know the steps. We can assume we know whats coming next and "shuffle ball change" in anticipation, but chances are, we are only going to get our toes stepped on. God is in the lead, and we were made to follow, So Let's Dance.
