Numbers 20:10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
Strengths vs. Weaknesses
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All of us have strengths and weaknesses in our lives. In which area of your life would you most expect the devil’s attack? Would you expect the devil to attack the area of your greatest strength or your greatest weakness? I think most of us would say that the devil would attack in our area of greatest weakness, but I’m not sure that is always so. In fact, I suspect for some of us the devil will attack us precisely where we find our greatest strength.
Think about Moses. In Numbers 20, God was going to provide water from a rock for the people. God told Moses, “Take your rod, gather the people together, and speak unto the rock before their eyes and it will give you water.” God wanted to make sure that Moses did this before the people’s eyes so that they could see that they had a powerful God.
Verses 9-10 say, “And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” The next verse tells us that Moses did not obey God by speaking to the rock, but instead he struck the rock twice. God very graciously gave water nonetheless.
God goes on to say to Moses that “because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”
When Moses responded to the people, he responded in anger. Notice the pronouns “ye” and “we.” Who was the “we”? Did Moses give these people water? No, it was God alone. Moses got his focus on himself. Notice the pronoun “ye.” It is ironic that Moses called these people rebels at the very moment in which he committed his greatest rebellion against God. God told Moses to speak to the rock, yet Moses struck it out of anger. Moses lost his temper.
Do you realize that in Numbers 12:3 it says, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” There was no one with greater meekness than Moses, yet meekness is the very thing that he lacked and the very reason he did not go into Canaan. Moses was meek but not meek enough.
Whatever your gifts, they are never greater than the Giver Who gave them. The devil would just as soon attack a strength that produces complacency in you as he would attack a weakness that inspires dependence upon God. Would you be more likely to trust God in the area of your greatest weakness or in the area of your greatest strength? It may be, then, that the devil will attack your greatest strength because that is the area in which you do not see your need of God. The area of your greatest stability today is the area of weakness where you acknowledge your need and trust God’s strength.