You Did Not Uphold Me As Holy.

² Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³ And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? ⁵ And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them,⁷ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸ “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” ⁹ And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice,and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ¹³ These are the waters of Meribah,^[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

So, we find ourselves here again. The people of Israel show, yet again, how little faith they have in the God who has provided and protected them all along; especially these near forty years in the desert. They complain. Yet again. They ask why couldn't they have stayed in Egypt (where they complained and lived in slavery). They are obsessed with their physical demands. I would like you, as I do often, to look at yourself and ask how much are you like them. I know, often times, I find myself worried over these things. Nonsense.

The people need water. Moses falls before God and listens to His instruction. 

Look back at verses 6-9. Notice the key word: tell.

God tells Moses to tell the Rock to yield its water. Now, lets backtrack a little bit to help make sense of this.

Exodus 17. We find a situation just like this. People need water. They complain. God tells Moses to strike the Rock and it will bring forth water. Before Moses goes God tells Him, "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.”

God makes it clear that it isn't the rock that Moses is striking or the rock that is bringing forth water, but He Himself.

Moses knew this. This is why He acted in obedience. 

Back to Numbers 20.

God tells Moses to speak to the Rock, not strike it- for the Rock has already been struck and the gift is now ours if only we ask. (Matthew 7:7) (John 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”)

Go with me, to verse 11 of Numbers 20. Moses, knowing the command God gave, disobeys by striking the Rock rather than speaking (asking God). 

God, rightly so, is very unhappy. Moses has disobeyed the command of God. 

Sin. That's what Moses and Aaron did. They sinned. As the highest leaders in Israel, they knew they were held to a higher standard, a fact that remains true for leaders today (James 3:1).

It doesn't matter how minor the offense may seem to us, because we aren't God. We did not and do not have the right or power to say what is right or wrong. Only God, the giver of live, purpose the the law has that right.

In verse 12 God tells Moses and Aaron "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." 

That's it. This mistake. 

But that's it. Look at what God says. "you didn't uphold me as holy..." Being holy means that you are completely set apart -perfect. God is holy. Perfect.

There is no mistake. Not one. So, even if you only mess up once, you have still messed up. You've fallen short of God's holiness and are therefore guilty in sight of Him.

You, by your actions, have rejected God and embraced yourself.

Wow.

So, we sin once and we are destined to separation from God for eternity? No promise land? No joy? No peace?

Not quite.

It could be that way.

Quite frankly, it should be, 

BUT.

BUT.

God loves you.

Why?

Because He does.

He doesn't have anything to gain from it.

He just loves you.

Listen to His good news:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called greatin the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, youwill never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-20

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

Christ knew you and I couldn't fulfill the law. Sin has beaten us and separated us from fellowship with God. Christ came. He lived perfectly. He died in your place. Stood before God with the sins of the world on His file. Faced the judgment and punishment we deserved, and then by the power of the Holy Spirit, defeated death and sin.

The work has been finished. The law has been fulfilled.

Christ has won.

He wants you on His team.

He has your jersey, it's the freshest white.

All you have to do is accept what He has to offer.

All my love,

Michael.

The Pursuit of Happiness Joy:

   Two words that I hear misused more than most are joy and happiness. I have found that even if you seek answers from Webster's you still won't find much difference in the two, but oh how different they are.

I am not sure how this post will flow exactly, but if you are reading this is means I didn't absolutely hate it and decided to give it a shot and post  it. So, let's go.

   First, let me express what makes me so passionate about this topic. I have had this talk with my of my friends, likely a portion of those who actually read this. They know, in some detail, how I feel on this; after being approached with it twice last night it has been on my mind, so I thought maybe I could try this method.

The words:

  Happiness. I see happiness as good. It is indeed good, I think most people want to be happy, but happiness is like a feeling. What I mean by this is that is a description of your current state. For example, back in the days of Myspace you could attach faces with your status. They had a happy (and many others of course). Why? Because your status can be happy. It's how you feel now. Can we agree on this? Good.

  Joy. Oh joy. This is much different, at least for me, and I believe, all Christians. You see, joy is much more than a current state; it's a mindset, a lifestyle.

  If you still don't quite get what I'm raving over, don't worry, I have plenty more raving to do. So, feelings are a current state of being. They can, and will, change. Say you talk to someone and ask about their day at 0900 and they tell you they are happy. Great. But lets say during they day they spill coffee on themselves, get a speeding ticket during lunch, show up late returning from lunch, their child gets in trouble at school and they have a blow out on the way to the school (I don't envy the life of parents). If this said person truly meant that they were just happy as a current state (I dare not say a person can say happy without meaning joyful), because they had experienced a good morning, then, if you ask again after this kind of day they might not give quite as warm of an answer.

   Now, lets take another person, someone who is madly in love with Jesus and filled with His joy that I will talk more about in a bit. In a one year span of time he runs out of money for school, sees his parents divorce, loses two grandparents to cancer and gets laid of from his job (to those who know me this might sound familiar). One day you run into him and ask how he is and he might be transparent and tell you things have been hard, there have been some curve balls thrown his way, but I guarantee he will end his sentence with, "God is good though." This huge difference is because joy isn't JUST a current state. It's a condition of the heart. You might be thinking, this guy is crazy if he thinks people can just never be upset. Hold on now. I never said that. Because I am talking about two different things, they can, and do, exist  together. You can be sad and joyful at the same time. The sadness might have a good night, but it will not overcome true joy.

"For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." Psalm 30:5

Anger, like sadness are just emotions or feelings. Temporal.

My good friend, Paul, understood joys superiority over happiness too. Follow me for a moment.

"Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with fullcourage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again." 

Philippians 1:18b-26

 "Rejoice in the Lord always [pantote at all times, always, ever]; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace [eirēnē of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is] of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7

In this passage Paul is comforting believers with the truth that joy is greater than the things of this world that make them anxious and worried.

You want more?

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvationready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:3-9

Think you've done to much wrong to be blessed with the unstoppable joy of Christ? Listen to David after he had committed adultery.

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
     wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
     let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,    and uphold me with a willing spirit." Psalm 51:7-12

So, joy is more powerful, longer lasting, undefiled, unfading, imperishable, glorious, uncircumstantial. We can agree that it is indeed good, right? Just to be absolutely certain, joy only comes from God. If you aren't a Christian, you cannot be joyful the way we can. I don't mean to sound harsh, and I certainly do not wish unhappiness on you, but joy and Christ are inseparable.

 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17

I pray you see why I care about this so much.

I encourage you to ask God everyday to fill you with His joy. It grows everyday and wells up inside you until you overflow and others get to experience that joy, just by being around you. And if you live like that you will know the joy of doing this:

"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15

I love you all.