12th.: Yes, No, Maybe, or Wait.
The people complained again.
This time it was at a placed called Meribah.
They complained about having no water (see Num. 20:3-13).
In times past, God had told Moses to strike a rock to provide water (see Exo. 17:5-6).
But now, God instructed Moses to simply speak to a particular rock (Num. 20:8).
Yet, Moses spoke and also struck the rock (Num. 20:10-11).
For this disobedience, the Lord punished Moses with,
“Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel,
therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” (Num. 20:12).
God kept Moses out of the Promised Land.
Deuteronomy tells us that Moses later asked God to change his mind,
“O Lord God, thou has begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand.
or what God is there in heaven, or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might.
I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.” (Deut. 3:23-24).
Moses began by praising God.
He then quickly made his request to go into Palestine.
We must note that Moses did not accuse God of being unjust, or excessive in His verdict.
As our Maker, God has the right to decide what is best for us. He may give our requests one of four basic replies,
‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Maybe’, or ‘Wait’.
In this case, the reply was No (Deut. 3:26b). Nonetheless, God allowed Moses to see the land from a nice overlook, before he died (Deut. 3:27).
“… shall the clay say to him that fashions it, ‘What makes thou?’” (Isa. 45:9b)