Deuteronomy 3: The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away

I read the words of Deuteronomy 3 and they break my heart. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for Moses. After investing his life into these people, risking everything and spending 40 years in the wild with them God does not allow him to enter into the inheritance offered to his people since Abraham. Moses, the great liberator in one way must stay unliberated. He can never enter the promised land. Listen to the complete despair in his words:

"At that time I pleaded with the LORD : "what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan...But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough, Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." (Deut. 3.23-28)

The background to this of course is the story of Numbers 20: "The LORD said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink." So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff.

And the background to this was Exodus 17: But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel" (Exod. 17.3-6).

Thats the story in reverse. But even when you read it the right way around it still leaves you wondering doesn't it? Why is God so harsh with Moses? Why does he treat him so "unfairly". There are two things I notice: 1) Moses does not listen to God in detail and assumes that the way God did things before was the way he was doing them again. But that assumption was devastatingly wrong. The first time God said "strike the rock", the second time he said "speak to the rock", but Moses struck it. He assumed that God wanted him to do the same old thing, but God was teaching Moses a new thing. We do that sometimes: restrict God to working in ways that he has already done in our lives instead of opening ourselves up for new and fresh work of the Spirit.

2) Deut. 1 showed God's blessing on people who are willing to focus on him in the midst of communities who are focused on anything but him. Israel's fault in this narrative is that she continually forgets who it is who is caring for her and they lose faith in YHWH quickly. He saves them from Egypt and the next chapter they grumble! In Deut. 3 we see that Israel's sins have begun to wear off on its leader. Moses focuses on himself instead of pointing away from himself-- and pays for it. Notice he says "must we bring you water out of this rock?"-- it was never Moses who provided anything for Israel but YHWH and only him...how often we forget who puts bread in our stomachs and water in our mouths. How foolish we can be for believing, even for a second, that we deserve the credit for anything we can muster from our lives-- in his grace he helps us succeed at what makes us happy but we must remember: it is the Lord that giveth and the Lord that taketh away.