This week we continue our journey talking about the Lord God Almighty. Today we will look at how we are to honor our Sovereign Lord with our trust. Tomorrow, part two, we will look at how to address God as our Sovereign King. To honor means “to demonstrate high respect or great esteem for someone.” But God is not man so this type of honor is much higher than one would honor man. Honoring God means that God is sovereign over everything and we do as He commands. Honoring God with our trust means that we have submitted our lives to Him and do as He commands. Jesus said, John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”
Today we are looking at Moses who was a great leader of the people, sent by God to take them out of Egypt to go the promised land, but they were a stubborn and rebellious people which brought frustration to Moses but not enough that he should disobey God’s command as we will see in a moment. Water seemed to be one of the tests God used as to whether they would believe in Him or not. Deuteronomy 8:1 “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” They had come out of Egypt and were now free from slavery and they had just come through the Red Sea and saw Pharoah’s army destroyed and now they had no water but you would think that after seeing all the signs and wonders, water really would not be a problem, yet it was as they did not trust God. Exodus 15:22 “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink? 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.”
After this they were hungry, and God tested them again and once again they grumbled. Deuteronomy 8:3 “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” We are also today the same thing. Hebrews 3:7 “So, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Exodus 16:2 “In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted (their memory was skewed as they were slaves), but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. 13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent. 19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning. 20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.”
You can see a pattern a lack of trust and disobedience here. Then again there was no water. Numbers 17:1 “The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink. Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test? 3 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? 4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me. 5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front 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. 6 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. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Moses’ frustration continues to grow. You can see their journey in Numbers 33.
Then once again there was no water. Numbers 20:1 “In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. 2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” 6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 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.” All Moses had to do was speak to the rock and water would pour out of it, but he didn’t and in frustration He disobeyed God. Yes, these were a stubborn and rebellious people and most of them died in the desert for disobedience, but Moses should not have disobeyed God’s command and he paid for it. Instead, Moses Numbers 20:9 “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. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.” In God’s grace, water still came out, but it wasn’t Moses who brought the water out, it was God.
We have seen a rebellious and stubborn people who complained all the time, a people who did not trust God, nor did they believe He would care for their every need, even after all the signs and wonders. Jeremiah 32:20 “You performed signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. 21 You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. 22 You gave them this land you had sworn to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23 They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster on them.” Acts 7:35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.” You may think how could they be so naïve, yet the church has done the same and rebelled against God and have turned their hearts away just as Israel did. All the signs and wonders are right there before us from the Old Testament and the New. We have no excuse. Jesus said Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” God will take care of our every need, but we must trust God and honor Him. That means to obey His word not change it as so many have done to suit their own needs and desires.
After Moses disobeyed God’s direction, God responded, Numbers 20:12 “to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” That was a huge price to pay. After all this time in the desert, he would not get to enter the Promised Land because he did not honor God as holy. Even though Moses pleaded with God, God would not let him enter the land. Moses said this, Deuteronomy 3:21 “At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. 22 Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you. 23 At that time I pleaded with the Lord: 24 “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? 25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.” 26 But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28 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.”
We honor God by obeying His word, but sadly the church has not obeyed God’s word and have gone their own way. Mark 7:6 “He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” God said in Malachi, Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.” We are then warned, Malachi 2:2 “If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.” The church today has been decimated the abomination that causes desolation because of the church’s rebellion against God’s word.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can turn from our wicked ways and return to God’s word. Zechariah 1:2 “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. 4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord.” Malachi 3:7 “Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 3:16 “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.” Psalm 22:22 “I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!” Revelation 5:12 “In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 1 Timothy 1:17 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
