Your Next is on the Heels of Your Belief

Your Next is on the Heels of Your Belief
Numbers 20:11

AUDIO: Listen to the audio version of this post HERE  (Note: The audio file for this post was uploaded to SoundCloud).

Numbers 20:11 (AMP)
¹¹  Then Moses raised his hand [in anger] and with his rod he struck the rock twice [instead of speaking to the rock as the Lord had commanded]. And the water poured out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank [fresh water].

This past Sunday, Rev. Sherise Webb brought a message entitled, “Your Next is on the Heels of Your Belief”.  I will attempt to summarize the main points of her message (along with a little extra input of my own) in this blog post.  To watch/listen to the full message, see the embedded video at the bottom of this post.

---

In Numbers chapter 20, the Israelites have taken (once again) to grumbling against Moses (and ultimately against God).  This occasion is in regard to the lack of water for the entire assembly and their animals.  In verse 8, God instructs Moses to speak to the rock in front of all the people and then God will produce water from the rock.  In verse 11, we see that Moses follows the command all the way up to the point of standing in front of the rock.  He has made his way in front of all the people, who are now watching him as he stands in front of this rock.  They are clamoring for water.  They probably whisper among themselves, “What will Moses do?”

So, what does Moses do?  Instead of speaking to the rock, as God had instructed, Moses hits the rock (out of anger)…  twice!  Water does, indeed, gush out of the rock.  How does the congregation respond?  Do they praise God for providing the water?  Do they apologize to Moses for their grumbling against him and God?

They don’t have a recorded response other than simply drinking the newly provided water.  If an outsider were to observe this event, who would the outsider think performed the action?  It would appear that Moses brought the water out of the rock…  not God!  In his actions out of anger (even though he completed the general task almost to specifications), Moses unintentionally usurped God’s glory and the result was life-altering for Moses.

Numbers 20:12 (AMP)
¹²  But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed (trusted) Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, you therefore shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

According to God, unbelief and lack of trust resulted in Moses striking the rock with his rod…  not just his anger.  His anger clouded his judgement…  which affected his belief.

Through this, God is saying to not “strike out” with your mouth (angry, hurtful words) or with your hands (revengeful actions) at people or things or situations (source of frustration and irritation).  God wants you to speak the words that HE will put into your mouth and allow GOD to make the change!

We need to:

1.) Believe Christ is who He says He is
2.) Set Christ apart in our lifestyle and way of living
3.) Believe in the action part of our salvation (the Holy Spirit doing the work of God)

This world is thirsty!  They are in need of something to bring them peace and comfort and emotional/spiritual stability in a society that has strayed far from God’s principles. In their dehydrated state, they will lash out.  We, as Christians, must be prepared!  We need to first believe that God (through the Holy Spirit) is our comfort and our peace.  We then need to be set apart from the world by our lifestyle and manner of living.  Finally, we need to believe in the action part of our salvation!

What does our lifestyle say about God and our trust (or lack thereof) in Him?  Situations, family, job, traffic… all these things bring agitation to draw a response before “calling it a day”.  When we allow frustration, fear, irritation and anger to gain control over us, how does the world view our trust in God?  We need to demonstrate to them our trust in God (something the world does not understand) and not in addictions, money, career or other “idols”.  In order to be fully prepared for this, Bible reading and Bible study have to made a priority in the life of a Christian!  Demonstrate Who comes FIRST!

This world does not need Christians actively involved in championing their political views on social media…  This world needs Christians actively involved in championing CHRIST and His Love, His Peace, His Strength… declaring His Hope to the world dying without Him!

In Acts 3:1-10, we see Peter and John finding a lame man at the temple gate called “Beautiful”.  Now, it can be debated that Jesus, when He entered Jerusalem in Matthew 21:10 on what we celebrate as Palm Sunday, may have entered the temple through this gate.  If this is the case, a couple of questions could be raised from this fact.  If the lame man was laid at the gate called Beautiful every day, would he not have been there when Jesus passed by?  If so, why did Jesus not heal him at this time?

I will defer the answer to a post on “Biblical Hermeneutics” entitled, “Did Jesus not heal the crippled beggar at the gate Beautiful?”
(url: https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/1707/did-jesus-not-heal-the-crippled-beggar-at-the-gate-beautiful  )

They crossed paths but Jesus chose not to heal him. This occurs other places:

Mt 13.58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

A plausible solution is that the beggar got his ‘bread and butter’ daily from the Pharisees who traversed there daily. To accommodate himself to them he probably joined in the banter mocking Jesus to secure his ‘income’.

When word of His Resurrection had spread, he could separate himself from the other scoffers. His approach to the apostles was probably a bit more humble.

It could be said that the lame man did not believe or did not actively seek his healing. Even in the Acts chapter 3 passage, the man did not seek out healing…  Peter and John came to him!

We have to go to the world!…  Especially, when the world will not come to Christ!

In summary, though I’ve added a bit of my own thoughts, Rev. Webb basically was driving at the point that your level of belief will determine the fulfillment of your next!

-Dan Rivera
4/27/2017