However, Moses had already seen God do even greater miracles. The Red Sea had parted when he lifted his rod. God had shown Himself to the people as Jehovah-Jireh. So, why did Moses disobey God? Instead of speaking to the rock, he struck it. It would seem to be only a small mistake. Yet, it was this action that kept Moses out of the land promised to his forefathers.

The Bible says, "So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. 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?' Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the LORD said 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'" (Num. 20:9-12 NIV). At first glance at this passage one might ask, "What's the big deal? He only struck the rock, rather than speaking to it. And it gave forth water, didn't it? Why was God so harsh on Moses?"

The answer to those questions is found in God's response to Moses, "you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites...." The rock represented Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). Thus, Moses struck that which was holy. To add insult to injury, he did it in front of the people that he was leading. His leadership would be permanently damaged. Others weren't held to as high of a standard as Moses. But others hadn't seen what Moses had seen. He had met God on the mountain in the Midianite desert, and the first of God's attributes revealed to Moses was that of holiness. Moses learned the hard way that the leader must live in a manner consistent with the character of Christ.

The sin of Moses was two fold - he didn't reverence God, and he didn't trust God. We can learn some great lessons from Moses' failure. First, never lead from a position of unbelief. Leadership requires faith. God will continuously place impossible situations before us. If we want to go in and conquer a land promised to us, then we must trust completely in Him. Faith and victory go hand in hand.

Second, we must lead people from the heart of humble reverence of Christ. The disciples were simple men and women who had been with Christ. Out of their knowledge of Him and reverencing Him as Lord, they impacted the world for His glory. If we are to be used to impact our world for Christ, then we must learn to work with a reverent heart. Often in the heat of the battle, we lose that sense of reverence. We act out of anger and bitterness. So it was with Moses, and it cost him dearly. We must guard our hearts against anything that would prevent us from a simple and pure devotion to Christ.

Victorious men and women have learned that the lack of faith and reverence will keep them from achieving all that God has intended for them. Moses was still God's man. He was the greatest leader to arise in all of Israel. He saw more than most people will ever dream of seeing. Yet, he fell short of God's potential for his life. All because of two little sins that may not be so small after all. A lack of faith and reverence are thieves. They rob men and women of living life to its full potential. So, "trust and obey. There's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."