November 10th, 2026
Numbers 20:7-8 — 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
Many of you likely know the story of Moses striking the rock in the wilderness. Back in Exodus, the people of Israel complained of thirst and God instructed Moses at Horeb to strike the rock and water came, and now around forty years later, the Israelites still have the same complaints they had when they entered the wilderness. But this time, God instructs Moses to speak to the rock.
Moses is tired and frustrated. He’s shepherded the people for forty years, and they still have the same attitude they had in the beginning. Not an attitude of gratitude but of disquietude. They’re restless, anxious, and grumbling.
Instead of speaking to the rock at God instructed, Moses takes his staff and strikes the rock twice, and the result of Moses’ disobedience and disbelief is that he doesn’t get to lead the people into the land of promise.
Moses disbelieved God. That is the reason God gave for his judgment, disbelief. Yet this is the man who by faith led the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years! How does this man lack faith and fall into disbelief? And the answer is not that he lost faith in God. Hebrews 11 speaks of the great faith of Moses. But it seems that in Moses’ frustration and tiredness, he fails to trust God’s word in the moment over his past experiences and current frustrations.
The first time, God instructed Moses to strike the rock. The second time, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. Striking worked the first time, so why wouldn’t it work again? Well, because that’s not what God instructed to do.
In this life, frustrations tend to repeat themselves. Like the seasons of nature, the seasons of life are cyclical. Life repeats itself in a lot of ways. The sun rises and falls, the wind blows south and finds itself north again (Ecclesiastes 1:5-6). We grow frustrated with finding ourselves once again in a place we do not want to be. The location might be different, the circumstances might be different, but the frustration feels the same. And even though we look back and see how God delivered us through the first season, we somehow doubt he will do it again. We try to do whatever worked last time because it worked last time, forgetting that it only worked last time because God was in it.
We can be shortsighted, especially when we’re frustrated. Yet we must never lose sight of God in every season and hold fast to His Word, relying on His Sprit to bring His Word alive to us in our needs today. And we must believe God, even in our frustrations, to strike the rock when He says ’strike’ or speak to the rock when He says ‘speak.’
That takes wisdom and faith, but God will give such to those who ask with confidence to receive (James 1:5-8).
United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried
Pastor
Many of you likely know the story of Moses striking the rock in the wilderness. Back in Exodus, the people of Israel complained of thirst and God instructed Moses at Horeb to strike the rock and water came, and now around forty years later, the Israelites still have the same complaints they had when they entered the wilderness. But this time, God instructs Moses to speak to the rock.
Moses is tired and frustrated. He’s shepherded the people for forty years, and they still have the same attitude they had in the beginning. Not an attitude of gratitude but of disquietude. They’re restless, anxious, and grumbling.
Instead of speaking to the rock at God instructed, Moses takes his staff and strikes the rock twice, and the result of Moses’ disobedience and disbelief is that he doesn’t get to lead the people into the land of promise.
Moses disbelieved God. That is the reason God gave for his judgment, disbelief. Yet this is the man who by faith led the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years! How does this man lack faith and fall into disbelief? And the answer is not that he lost faith in God. Hebrews 11 speaks of the great faith of Moses. But it seems that in Moses’ frustration and tiredness, he fails to trust God’s word in the moment over his past experiences and current frustrations.
The first time, God instructed Moses to strike the rock. The second time, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. Striking worked the first time, so why wouldn’t it work again? Well, because that’s not what God instructed to do.
In this life, frustrations tend to repeat themselves. Like the seasons of nature, the seasons of life are cyclical. Life repeats itself in a lot of ways. The sun rises and falls, the wind blows south and finds itself north again (Ecclesiastes 1:5-6). We grow frustrated with finding ourselves once again in a place we do not want to be. The location might be different, the circumstances might be different, but the frustration feels the same. And even though we look back and see how God delivered us through the first season, we somehow doubt he will do it again. We try to do whatever worked last time because it worked last time, forgetting that it only worked last time because God was in it.
We can be shortsighted, especially when we’re frustrated. Yet we must never lose sight of God in every season and hold fast to His Word, relying on His Sprit to bring His Word alive to us in our needs today. And we must believe God, even in our frustrations, to strike the rock when He says ’strike’ or speak to the rock when He says ‘speak.’
That takes wisdom and faith, but God will give such to those who ask with confidence to receive (James 1:5-8).
United in Christ,
Rev. Joshua Fried
Pastor
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