The Danger of Trying to Help God Out

God doesn’t need our help; just our cooperation. When we try to perfect his work, we end up taking his glory for ourselves, and that is always a dangerous path to tread. We must simply let God be God, and trust him to bring glory out of our situations in his way and in his time. Wherever you need God’s help—with a difficult spouse, a rebellious child, a harsh boss, an irritating co-worker—let God be God. He will do a much better job than you!

Going Deep // Focus: Numbers 20:7-12

The Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.” So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!”

I feel for Moses on this one—I really do. Put yourself in his sandals: he’d led these rebellious, complaining, sin-prone Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness up to this point in the most miraculous way possible. He had mediated the ten plagues, parted the Red Sea, negotiated a daily supply of manna, strategized victory over enemies, delivered the Ten Commandments and clearly wore the approval of God on his shining countenance. Yet the people continued to complain about his leadership and doubt God’s record of provision.

Now they were complaining about having no water. And they were blaming Moses. And they were blaming God. And they were so misguided in their emotions that they actually talked about how glorious it had been for them during their slavery in Egypt. They were a difficult bunch, to put it nicely.

In response to this, Moses initially did what a good spiritual leader is supposed to do: he went to God. He an Aaron walked into the Tabernacle and fell flat on their faces before the Lord. And God graciously revealed his glorious presence to them once again. But not only that, but once again, God also provided a plan to reveal his greatness to the people by providing water from a rock. Moses was to call the people together and demonstrate to them once again the glory of the Lord and his gracious supply.

That is where Moses lost it. He called the people together, and understandably, he angrily yelled at them for their rebellious distrust of God. To make his point, he struck the rock rather than simply speak to it as the Lord had commanded. Moses’ emotions got the better of him, and instead of simply letting God do the supernatural in the most natural way, he thought he would help God out with a bit more dramatic flair.

Graciously, God still granted water from the rock, and both people along with livestock were rescued. Moses saved the day! But wait, Moses disobeyed the clear instruction of the Lord. And for that, God’s harsh punishment was to ban Moses from entering the Promised Land with the Israelites. Now to us, this seems like disproportionate punishment for a single, understandable sin, but God is God, he takes sin seriously, and he had his reasons for denying Moses what he had worked forty years to accomplish.

Now I suspect you think God was too hard on Moses. Me too. But we don’t know the whole story, so we will have to trust God on this one, since he never makes mistakes, and he is always kind, but his ways are too deep for us to always understand. I suspect, however, that one of the deal breakers in this incident was that in striking the rock, Moses took glory to himself rather than deflecting it to God. And God will not—let me repeat, will not—share his glory with another:

I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. (Isaiah 42:8)

But wait—there’s more to this story. Fast forward to Luke 9 and you will see that through the grace of God, Moses actually got to experience the Promised Land in a way that the original entrance into Canaan could not compare—not by a long shot:

Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.  Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.  They spoke about his departure, [literally, his exodus] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:28-31)

Now how cool is that! Moses, who had taken God’s glory from himself, and received the just punishment for it, now appeared in God’s glorious splendor inside the Promised Land. Moreover, he spoke with God the Son about a true and better Exodus, the deliverance for the entire human race from the ultimate bondage of sin and death through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Moses got to experience in far greater fashion than what he was originally denied.

So let me suggest a couple of polar opposite applications here from this interesting story: First of all, God doesn’t’ need our help; just our cooperation. When we try to perfect his work, we end up taking his glory for ourselves, and that is always a dangerous path to tread. We must simply let God be God, and trust him to bring glory out of our situations in his way and in his time. Wherever you need God’s help—with a difficult spouse, a rebellious child, a harsh boss, an irritating co-worker—let God be God. He will do a much better job than you!

Second, if and when you blow it, taking God’s glory for yourself, and taking the consequences that follow, it will be painful. But look for God’s grace. As John Newton said, “We serve a gracious Master who is able to overrule even our mistakes even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.” Don’t step on God’s lines, but when you do, hold out for grace.

God’s doesn’t need your help! He wants your cooperation!