Whether you are an avid or occasional reader of the Bible, its stories can be troubling. It seems God wants us to wrestle with the events that transpired in the lives presented to us.
Year after year, I read the Bible and year after year, I am troubled that Moses, after all he endured getting the stubborn Israelites to the promised land, was denied entry by none other than God Himself, who seemingly had been his biggest fan.
The reason was the rock incident in Numbers 20. The grumbling Israelites, thankless as always (like us), were wanting not only water, but their past life as slaves in Egypt (!). God, in response, told Moses and Aaron to take the staff and speak to the rock, out of which would come water for the people.
Moses, in a fit of anger, said, "Listen, rebels! Do we have to bring water out of this rock for you?" Then he struck the rock not once, but twice. God followed with, "Because you didn't trust me, didn't treat me with holy reverence in front of the People of Israel, you two aren't going to lead this company into the land that I am giving them."
One incident, after all Moses endured? For some reason, that didn't add up. My pondering (and pestering God), year after year, may have uncovered something new. If it is true, God gets the credit. Continuing the journey, Moses remarks more than once to the Israelites that he was being denied entrance into the promised land because of them.
Hmm...we've heard that before. Adam says to God, upon His demand for an explanation has to why he and Eve ate from the Tree-of -Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and yes, I ate it." Pretty much, she caused me to do it.
That's us today, usually looking for a someone who made us do something that has consequences we aren't happy about. It is an error in judgment to not take full responsibility for a course of action in which we had a clear choice.
Alexander Pope, an English poet, wrote, To err is human--to forgive, divine. Moses, one of God's greatest servants, found himself blaming others for his loss. That is our fully human quality, the break in our spirit with the Living God. The price Moses paid for this humanness inspires me to be vigilant in considering what is my full responsibility when I err often and thus--often--need to seek that which is divine.
