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(Sorry about it being a bit late. Anyways here they are. Please feel free to discuss the devotions here. BTW don't expect all of them to be this long blaugh )

Numbers 20:2-12

2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD ! 4 Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."

Now as you read this some might wonder, why God gave moses such a harsh punishment, after all he more or less did what was asked. I am choosing to share this because Moses did many things wrong, and if we are not careful we can do the same things ourselves. Many of us probally have done them and/or are still doing them. What are these things that are so bad that God would deny Moses entry into the promiced land?

Well the first is "Misrepresenting God's Intentions". You might be asking well what does that mean? Well you see, this all takes place after Moses had led them through the desert for 40 years. It wouldn't have taken them that long, but the Hebrews did not fallow God's commands. Now here they are again, saying it would have been better to be in egypt than where they are. Moses having heard this a million times before, came to the place of God, probally a little annoyed. God hearing their pleas, basicly told Moses this: Take this staff, go out, talk to the rock, and it will give my people water. Now Moses came out probally still a little annoyed at the Hebrews said, "Listen you rebels"! And that is what he did wrong. God didn't tell him to go out and condemn them, He told him to go out and give them water. Moses degraded them, when God wanted to bless them. Alot of christians do this today. We go out and we say "Listen you rebels", "Listen you Gays", "Listen you Abortionists", Or "Listen you Liberals". Chistians go out and tell them what they are doing wrong, we downgrade them, when God wants to save them. And by doing so, we like Moses, misrepresent Gods intentions.

But you also most note that this isn't the only thing Moses did wrong. After critizing the Hebrews, Moses went and struck the rock twice with his staff. And in this he misrepresented God's power. He went to the rock in all his pride and struck it. All God asked Moses to do is to speak to it, and it would pour out water. Now you might be wondering what was wrong with striking it as aposed to speaking? Well by striking the rock, it made things appear as if it was Moses that caused the water to come out. And so by doing such, he robbed God of his glory.

To conclude, we as Christians must remember that we are God's Representives on earth, so let us pray we never misrepresent God.

Note of encouragement: Great job interpreting God's word!

In everything we doing, we must do it for God's glory.

You just got to love how every single time the Israelites turned away from God he always brought them back and took care of them! So very contrasting to our world mind set.
(However, there will be a time when His patience runs thin with our disobedience)

His hand is in every situation planning things out. No such thing as luck or fate.

You'd think that God would let the Israelites take the straight path to their ultamite destination to the promise land would have been best, but God was teaching them during that time. How to fight and rely on Him.

Everything in the old testiment even points to the awesome example of Christ. The rock symbols Jesus and only by him we can get living water.

As you pointed out before, often our troubles result from our own disobedience or lack of faith. We cannot blame God for our sins. Until we face the reality, we will have little peace and no spiritual growth.

I can't wait until the next one! Thank you muches for letting God use you!

You did great! You got all the points accross that the Holy Spirit wanted you to type out. No worries. It's God's word after all. Its sharper than any double edge sword and its living.

that's really good.

kool. right on.

well my class in school just went through that chapter and we discussed it. Moses had alot on his hands, the whole nation of Israel! He did steal the glory from God when he struck the rock, but he pays the price because the Israelites still complain again because they are now stuck in the desert for 40 years. Moses is also punished because he is stuck with them and their complaints. That also marks a time where the Israelites forget about God and they go to Moses instead of God because of the glory that Moses stole from God.


that was a very goo devotional, thanx!