“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” (Numbers 20:8).

Toward the end of the forty-year wilderness wanderings of Israel, the second generation encountered a “no water” situation. Like the first generation, they failed to trust God. God told Moses to “Speak ye unto the rock.” The water would then come abundantly.

But instead of speaking to the rock, Moses turned his back on the rock and spoke in great anger to the people. He was now speaking in the wrong direction. When he finally turned toward the rock, he was so filled with anger that he completely disobeyed God and struck the rock twice, and thus was barred from the land of Canaan (vv.9–12). Four valuable lessons can be learned from this Old Testament story. Learn to speak to the Rock before speaking to others. Paul stated that the spiritual Rock that followed them was Christ (I Corinthians 10:4), who is constantly with us. If we keep in touch with the Rock, our speech will be acceptable. Give complete obedience to the commands of God. Anything less brings judgment. Watch out for sinful anger. The psalmist’s account of this incident is as follows: “They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips” (Psalm 106:32,33). May our speech “be alway with grace, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6). Don’t take credit for what God has done. Moses failed to “sanctify” God before the children of Israel. His act of striking the rock exalted himself rather than God. Christ said, “for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). God must always be glorified and exalted, God, not man. NPS