I have been in church practically my whole life and I have never heard a sermon on this one particular story in Numbers 20 & Deuteronomy 32.
Numbers 20: It's the story of when the Israelites are in the desert and they're complaining to Moses about having no water. So Moses goes to God, God tells him to 'speak' to this rock, and water would come out of the rock. So Moses goes down to the rock and begins to speak. But the nastiness of the Israelites complaining is more than his patience can endure. He snaps and smacks the rock with his staff. Water comes out of the rock.
That was the extent of the story that I had known. Until now. Until this week, when having never heard this part of the story, I hear it twice. (I downloaded it online from J1Ten -my church at home- and I was super taken aback by the message. And then I heard it again in church here in Nicaragua on Saturday night- it was at this totally random church that I have been wanting to visit for weeks and finally got a group together to go on Saturday. It was like confirmation that God wanted me to learn and share about this story!)
The story is actually lesson about the consequences to disobedience to God's voice.
Deuteronomy 32: Moses is on his death bed and God tells him to go to the top of this mountain, and there he will show Moses the Promised Land. Moses will get to feast his eyes on all that was intended for him, but then there – on the mountain top – he will die. Yes, he will have all the riches and glories of Heaven, but God was showing Him that he had MORE for him here on earth but, Moses missed out on it –because he didn't listen to God's voice. Like Pastor Shaun at J1Ten said, 'I don't know about you, but I don't want to be laying on my death bed and have God whisper to me that He had more for me here on Earth but I missed it because I didn't listen!'
The Pastor of 'La Roca' Church here in Jinotepe, Nicaragua (The Rock Church) put it this way:
The Israelites = the pressures of the outside world around us
The Desert= the tough situations we find ourselves in
The Water = the blessings of God
The Promised Land = God's ultimate vision and purpose for your life. The complete and fullness of what God has for you here on Earth.
We will be blessed. Just as the Israelites got the water from the rock, God's blessings will abound. He will still bless us -even when we don't listen- because He is a merciful and loving God. God will move- with or without our help. God is still God and He is still gonna do awesome stuff…because He's God. But we can easily miss out on our chance to be a part of it.
I don't want to be blessed. I want to be a part of the blessing.
God speaks to us. I am learning that. He speaks to us all the time- if we are listening. He speaks through people, circumstances, music, nature, instincts, your conscience, His Holy Spirit. He speaks. And when we hear Him — when you feel that little tug, that little nudge, that incling — you better do it. No matter how awkward or strange it may seem, you're better off giving Him the benefit of the doubt and just doing it.
Quick Real Life example:
Liz has the hiccups reeaaally bad on Friday night. Like on and off all day. Poor thing's chest was sore from hiccuping. Rebecca has a dream that the only thing that will stop Liz's hiccups is listening to a song by some particular artist – Jonathan David Helser. Rebecca wakes up and Liz is hiccuping again. She remembers the dream but doubts it thinking, "that's too weird." So instead she spends a few minutes chatting with Liz, trying to calm her down. Then Hannah wakes up from Liz's intense hiccuping. Rebecca explains her dream, but the 3 of them doubt it and decide to watch a movie (at 4am). They get an hour and a half into the movie and the laptop battery dies. Liz is still hiccuping. Rebecca thinks of her dream, again. Finally she just grabs her iPod, pulls up this mysterious song she dreamt about and just sticks the earbuds into Liz's ears (for fear of doubt getting the best of her again, should she have to discuss it once more). For a minute Liz's hiccups get worse. Doubt rises. Then, all of a sudden, they stop. Rebecca looks at Hannah like 'whaaaaaat?'. Five minutes later, no hiccups. Twenty minutes later, no hiccups. Liz finally got some rest!
My question to Rebecca: Why the heck didn't you just give your dream the benefit of the doubt and put the silly music in her ears in the first place? Would've saved poor Liz a few more hours of hiccups and gotten you all a little more sleep! (This whole hiccup fiasco subsided at about 6am).
But it's not just Rebecca, we all do this. Like Pastor Shaun said, we tell ourselves 'The Holy Spirit wouldn't want me to look WEIRD, right?' Wrong! The Holy Spirit doesn't care how we look. He cares about getting God's work done!
God speaks in all kinds of ways. Including dreams. And He wants to talk to you about all kinds of things, including hiccups. But ya gotta listen when you even think you hear Him. Otherwise, you and the people around you might miss out on some blessings, you might miss out on the chance to partner with God doing His work, and in Moses's case- you might miss out on the Promised Land!
I don't want to be just blessed.
I want to walk into my own personal Promised Land.
I don't want to be blessed with what I want for me.
I want what God wants for me.
I want the fullness and abundance that He has planned for me.
Not only the glory of Heaven, but the fullness of His blessings for me here on Earth: His ultimate call on my life.
I don't want to be 'blessed'!
I want to follow His voice to the ULTIMATE blessing and vision that God has for me.
I want it ALL! And I don't want to settle for any less.
I want all that He has for me- and I know its way more crazy awesome than anything I or anyone else could possibly dream up for me.
I fear that so many church-going people will never get to the Promised Land that God has for them because they've never learned to listen for His voice and MOVE when they even think they hear it.
I don't know about you, but I don't wanna be one of those people.
I don't wanna be blessed.
I want the Promised Land.
