by Jim Supp, Campus Pastor @ MBC Loudoun

In my blog a couple of weeks ago I talked about how gracious God was to Moses in the midst of all of his foibles. God delights in taking broken vessels and using them for his own glory – and certainly this is true. I am grateful to see how God has worked in and through my life in spite of how broken I am. He has often ‘dusted my trail’ of the evidence of sin and covered it with the righteousness of Christ. Unfortunately there is a flip side to this coin, that remains a reality in the life of the believer in Jesus. There are many times in our lives when we are forced to face consequences for our sin. Oh yes, we can be forgiven. And yes we still possess our salvation, since nothing can take that away. But we must still understand that there continues to be consequences for sin in this life. In Numbers 20 the people of Israel were thirsty and without water. God told Moses to SPEAK to the rock and water would come pouring out. Instead of simply speaking to the rock as God had commanded, Moses struck the rock with his staff. Water came gushing out and quenched the thirst of all the people and the livestock, but God was not happy. Verse 12 of chapter 20 contains some of the most tragic words spoken from the Lord to his servant Moses. “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.”

I don’t know about you but my first internal response is “God, come on – give the guy a break. Is it really that big of a deal? He has been serving you for 40 years. Can’t you just give him some grace on this one? After 40 years in the desert is he really going to miss getting into the promised land?” But the reality of Moses’ journey with God for 40 years is all the more reason why he should have known better. Why he should not have drawn the attention away from God to his own acts. Sometimes true believers end up facing consequences for sin and more often than not disobedience is the cause.

As I read this passage it gave me pause. I sat for a moment with the sobering reality that God is loving and gracious, but he is not to be trifled with. He expects obedience from those who claim Him as Lord and although forgiveness is always available, sometimes consequences for sin remain a reality. Should this be a cause for fear in our lives? Not at all. It should motivate us to be certain we are being as obedient as we possibly can and that our confession of sin springs from genuine repentance, not a presumption on God’s grace. Walk in obedience today!!