honor

honor

Moses knew about honor. Or thought he did.

The Israelites grumbled a second time about their thirst. Moses and the Lord had always provided before. It is too bad that this people didn't develop the habit of making their needs known to the Lord directly. He always heard them anyway!

As we tell our grumbling kids "Words work, and clear words work best." 

God changed the instructions to Moses (in Aaron's hearing) by instructing to speak to the rock, not strike the rock as he had done before. We don't know why Moses chose to strike the rock twice. But it was a fatal mistake.

God was clear about two things: He wasn't about to appear weak or powerless, so the water gushed from the rock and all were watered. And second, He wasn't going to let Moses and Aaron off the hook for their disobedience. His honor was at stake and He called them on it. Neither would see the Promised Land under their feet. They would die with the others who disobeyed earlier.

This may seem stiff, unyielding, and arbitrary from our viewpoint. What about grace? Forgiveness?  

But what about the public disobedience of Moses and Aaron? Would the lifegiving words of the Lord have the same directive, absolute power to guide if they could be flouted by the most worthy of all? What about those down the ages who would claim 99.99% pure like Moses and should be considered as the Savior? No, to honor God meant to completely follow His revealed Word. All of it.

This single minded vision of obedience is what is so unnerving to those who would seek to take the moral high ground in social debates. We do not claim to be infallible, nor do we claim to know everything. The only claim we can make is that the Lord has spoken and we have heard it. To honor our Lord is to follow what we have heard and not vere to the right or the left. 

This is also unnerving to us, because we know that we fail to follow everyday. And that is why we glory in a Savior who was perfect, heard unerringly, and followed the honor of the Word to the cross. 

So, who, or what are you honnoring with your life today?