15 February | Teens
«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. » Numbers 20: 8
Without a doubt, this was the story that left me with the most doubts in the entire Bible. Why? Because in a previous situation, in Exodus 17:1 to 7, God asks Moses to strike the rock, he obeys, and it brings water to the people. But in today's story, God asks Moses to just speak to the rock, and Moses, perhaps thinking it would work as before, knocks on it again. This does not seem such a serious act of disobedience, but had a major consequence: Moses could not enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12-13).
Why was this so serious? Because Moses, perhaps without understanding, ended up spoiling a symbology that God was creating. How so? In these stories, the rock symbolized Jesus. Just as the rock was wounded to give water to the people (and water in the wilderness represents life), Jesus was wounded only once to give us eternal life. The message here is profound: Jesus died once and for all for us; and now, to receive the life He offers, we just have to talk to Him in prayer. It is not necessary for Him to be “wounded” again.
The lesson we can take away from this story is the importance of listening to God and obeying exactly what He tells us. Even though Moses was a great leader, he made a mistake by not following God's requests to the letter. This shows us that no matter how close we are to God, we should always pay attention to His instructions and trust that He knows what is best for us. We don’t want to ruin something He wants to do, do we?
Take Action
This week, try to remember to “talk to the rock” instead of trying to work things out your way. When faced with a challenge, pray to God for help, trusting that He can provide what you need.