Because Of You

Deuteronomy 1:34-37 – When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.” Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either.

Numbers 11:1 – Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

Numbers 14:28-29 – So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.

Numbers 20:11 – Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Application:

• ·         Only three days into their march, the people revert to disloyal complaints. They had expressed the same complaints a year earlier, only three days after their deliverance at the waters of the “Red Sea”, and had subsequently complained about manna and a lack of water.
• ·         The people of Israel brought upon themselves their punishment. They had said that they would rather die in the wilderness than be led into Canaan to die by the sword.
• ·         In his rage Moses disobeyed the Lord’s instruction to speak to the rock. Moses’ rash action brought a stern rebuke from the Lord. These other factors were also involved: (1) Moses’ action was a lack of trust in God, as though he believed that a word alone would not suffice. (2) God’s holiness was offended by Moses’ rash action, for he had not shown proper deference to God’s presence.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV