Let God Do a Number(s) on You: Speak to the Rock Part 1

“…and speak to the Rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water.”

Numbers 20:4

“They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.”

I Corinthians 10:4

I’ve made so many mistakes in the ministry. One of the biggest ones I kept repeating had to do with something Moses also struggled with. When the people got really difficult and just downright nasty to deal with, Moses became angry. God had a lot of mercy on him. But there was one instance where Moses exhausted God’s patience. He was given simple instructions. He decided to improvise. I will elaborate more on this in the posts which will follow this one.

Stay tuned.

Please, I hope and pray that you might learn from something I failed at so many times. The Book of Numbers in the First Testament is like a great leadership manual. We are no different in spirit than the ancient people of Israel who wandered the desert for forty years.

God help us. There is such a clear connection. There are clear such warnings. There is so much mercy from God. So much grace.

Let me explain.

The Book of Numbers is basically a story about arrested development. What should have been a 40-hour journey to Canaan Land took 40 years. Numbers tells us why it took so long. The book of Numbers takes up where Exodus leaves off. God delivers Israel from the power of Egypt – from Pharaoh’s oppressive regime – and, by the power of His miracles, signs, and wonders, defeats every Egyptian principality – all their demons and spiritual rulers – putting them to an open shame.

Each one of the plagues was a display of Yahweh’s power directly aimed against demonic “principalities” which operated to hold Israel in bondage.

The Exodus deliverance was a type of our salvation. When Jesus saves us, it is just like Paul writes: He saves us “from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Boom. Just like that. And they didn’t have to do anything. God did it all. Israel was taken from Egypt – a type of the kingdom of darkness, and delivered into the desert to be God’s own Kingdom. God says this clearly to Israel through Moses in Exodus 6:7:

“Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

So, we are delivered into the wilderness of the world. Off we go on our own journey – but we follow someone. Just like Israel followed Moses – we are to follow Jesus through His abiding Spirit. Jesus is in heaven, at the right hand of God. He rules and reigns from them. But the Spirit is here with us. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are our Moses.

And just like the people of Israel, what should have been a forty hour walk to the Promised Land – took more than 40 years. Reminds me of the old Gilligan’s Island TV show – they went on what was supposed to be a “three-hour” tour – and, the three-hour tour turned into…well. Does anyone know how long Gilligan was on the island?

Back to Numbers. Back to the Rock. Paul tells us something in 1 Corinthians 10 that we should understand: as the Israelites wandered the desert God fed and sustained them miraculously in the face of overwhelming challenges. No supermarket nearby. Just daily miracles – in fact, so daily, that Israel began to take them for granted. They were ungrateful – one of their greatest sins (more on this later.)

But Paul tells us something amazing. Wherever Israel went – jetting around in the sand – there was what he calls “the spiritual rock that accompanied them.” He goes on to say that the “rock was Christ.”

The verse that follows contains a warning: “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.” Listen to what follows in 1 Corinthians 10:6: “now these things happened to them as examples for us.”

For us. For us? Yes, for us – three and a half millennia later “us.”

Let me just make the statement and I will elaborate in a post to follow. But, as my good friend Kevin Fischer would often say, “this is worth the price of admission.”

When you are in the desert – in the wilderness – and we all must go through a wilderness after coming to faith in Christ – “speak to the Rock.” Especially if you are a pastor. Speak to the Rock.

Hint#1: this is about prayer.

Hint#2: this is about faith in the face of impossible situations.

Hint#3: this is about prayer with authority.

More to follow…