Lesson 2
After forty years of
wandering, after the generation of the Exodus had died off, a new generation of
the children of
Verse 1.
“Then
the sons of
There is a no something in everyone’s life, but it
has a purpose. God has a reason for it, and He says to you through that no
something you think you lack, “Will you
trust Me?
Faith must be tested
through pressure so that we will advance spiritually and so that we will learn to lean on
Him, having had the dross of human viewpoint skimmed from our thinking by the
testing process.
Verses 2 and 3. “There was no water for the congregation, and they
assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.
The people thus contended
[meribahed] with
Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers
perished before the LORD!
They did not really want to die when their brethren died. Why?
Verses 4 and 5. These people had fallen into this same pattern, and so they said, “Why
then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our
beasts to die here? Why have you made us
come up from
Have you ever as a
believer come to some experience in your life and said, “This is horrible. I
never experienced anything like this as an unbeliever. Before I was a
Christian, everything went smoothly.”
There are many believers
who not only look back, but they are willing to turn back for something they
desire. They are willing not to be identified with believers any more. But they
can never change their identification with Christ.
In reality they failed
the test because they did not do the first thing that all of us should do in
our no water situation.
In everything
give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess.
5:18)
At some point we must
recognize that we cannot advance to spiritual maturation as the believer
God wants us to be, and that we cannot count for Him until your faith is tested?
If you flunk the no
water test you will take it over and over and over again until you do!
We live in the generation in which God is not able to count on
ninety-eight percent of the believers to have impact for Him because they cannot survive the no
water test.
This is a weak
generation of believers because so little doctrine is known, and so few of the
promises in the Word are claimed. They have not cracked the faith barrier. They
have not moved into the life which God has provided for them.
They spend time ‘looking
back toward
Verse 6. Now notice the contrast in the attitudes of
Moses and Aaron.
“Then Moses
and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent
of meeting and fell on their faces..”
Verses 7 and 8. “and the LORD spoke to
Moses, saying, Take the rod;"
This is a different rod from that with which he smote the river in
This is a different
Hebrew word for rock from that found in Exodus 17:6. This word means an
elevated rock, and it is a picture of Christ in resurrection.
And you will notice, Moses is to hold the rod
and speak to the rock.
Of course, the analogy
here is the faith-rest life, because this time the water represents the
provision for those who trusted Him.
Verses 9 and 10.
“And Moses took the rod from before
the LORD, as he commanded him.” So far, Moses was obedient.
“and
Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen
now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"
Verse 11.
“Then
Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod;”
Verse 12. Then the Lord took Moses aside and punished him. But He did it
privately.
Verse 13. “Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of
Will you trust Me??