Yesterday, we looked at Moses’ striking the rock, causing water to come out, and we closed with this reminder from Paul that it’s all God’s work:

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth…For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 9, ESV)

Moses forgot that lesson and several others later:

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “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.” And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 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?” 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. (Numbers 20.7 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

A tragic mistake:

• God changed the instructions, and Moses missed it. “Take your staff, but speak to the rock–don’t strike the rock.” God rarely does things the same way twice. We, on the other hand, like routines. If something worked once, surely it will work again. If a church has an event where God really shows up and good things happen, rest assured, 20 years later, they’ll still be running that same event even though God has long been absent from it.
• Most of us believe that God had intended to set up a picture pointing to Christ with the Exodus 17 event. Jesus, the rock that was struck. But he was struck only once. Please see Hebrews 9.24 – 26. Moses ruined that picture, which may be why the penalty was so severe. (See Numbers 20.12)
• But perhaps Moses’ biggest mistake in this whole episode is his forgetting his role: “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Really? Who is going to bring water out of the rock? The guy with the staff? Moses had started to believe his own publicity, a mistake Joseph and Daniel did not make.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” (Genesis 41.15, 16, ESV)

The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. (Daniel 2.26 – 28, ESV)

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3.7, ESV)