It’s not good to stay in a place where you criticize God’s judgment or question his character. Whenever you read the Bible and find your sensibilities don’t line up with how God is described, you face a choice. You can reject God’s ways and stand in judgment over him, or you can submit to God’s ways and ask him to transform your sensibilities until they’re more in line with his Word.

For a long time, I was bothered by the fact that God didn’t allow Moses into the Promised Land. I sympathized with Moses in his one moment of weakness, and I wondered if God judged him too harshly.

I was also bothered by the fact I was bothered.

It’s not good to stay in a place where you criticize God’s judgment or question his character. Whenever you read the Bible and find your sensibilities don’t line up with how God is described, you face a choice. You can reject God’s ways and stand in judgment over him, or you can submit to God’s ways and ask him to transform your sensibilities until they’re more in line with his Word. Sometimes, the areas where God most offends us are the areas where we most need to grow.

In studying Moses’s actions in Numbers 20 more closely, I’ve come to understand that it would have been unfair for God to overlook Moses’s sin in this instance. Why? Because Moses did the same thing that the wandering generation of Israelites had done. He was faithless.

“Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness,” God said. Moses did not trust God. And without faith, one cannot enter the Promised Land.

Faithless Frustration

Notice the frustration that Moses showed when he began to talk to the Israelites, after they (once again) complained about his leadership. God told Moses to address the rock, but he and Aaron addressed the people instead. His first words? “Listen, you rebels!” He lashed out at the people.

But God didn’t give Moses the right to judge Israel in this way. In fact, God had told Moses that He was going to show mercy and grace to the people by providing water from the rock. God had his heart set on showing mercy to the people, but Moses had his heart set on the people’s sin.

Remember how many times God was ready to destroy the people and Moses stepped in as the mediator, asking for mercy? Moses never defended the people; he defended God’s name. He never said, “You know, Lord, the people aren’t as bad as you’re making them out to be. Cut them some slack!” Every time Moses went to God on behalf of the people, he said, “O Lord, because of Your great name, save them! Have mercy on them. Show them grace so that you will get glory! Not because they deserve it—they don’t—but because you deserve glory for salvation!”

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