Word of Encouragement (11/01/2022)
Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them, 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.” (Num. 20:6-8)
As we saw last week, the people of Israel complained again about having no water to drink when they got to Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin (vv. 1, 3). But they did not just complain; v. 3 actually says that they “quarreled” (or contended) with Moses and Aaron: they accused Moses and Aaron (again!) of bringing them out to kill them in the wilderness. When this happened, Moses and Aaron just pulled away from the gathering of the people and came straight to the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. This time, we don’t hear them say anything. They just prostrate themselves at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Were they too angry to say anything? Were they so heartbroken that they could not think of anything to say? Were they so tired of their complaints that they had nothing more to say? We don’t know.
But we can understand, can’t we? There are times when all we can do is just get up from our bed and kneel in a posture of prayer. We know that we must pray because that’s all we can do but we don’t even know where to begin. Our hearts are heavy and we want to cry out to God but we can’t think of what to say. All we can do is just groan and moan in confusion and pain. But you don’t have to get discouraged. God does not rebuke or despise anyone, who comes to Him, even if he has doesn’t know what to say: “...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26).
What did God do when Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before His presence? The LORD proceeded to show them what they needed to do to get water for the people. It was as if God was saying, “Moses and Aaron, you don’t have to say anything. I know what happened. I know how you feel. The Spirit of God is interceding for you. I will take care of it!”
If this was true for Moses and Aaron under the old covenant (which was so only because the benefit of Christ’s redemption was applied to them retrospectively in the form of promise), how much more so it must be for us who have the fulfillment of Christ’s redemption under the new covenant! We have free and complete access to God because Christ removed from us what hinders us from approaching God—our sin. And God’s heart is wide open toward us in unbounded love and generosity!
How grateful we should be for the privilege of prayer, by which we can access the throne of God’s grace at any time! How encouraged we should be to present ourselves diligently and persistently before God even when we don’t know how to pray or what to say! Just go to Him! Just prostrate yourself at the mercy of God. He will take up your cause. He will be your Champion. He will defend you and uphold you. He will tend to us like a shepherd; he will gather us in his arms; he will carry us in his bosom, and gently lead us to the green pastures and quiet waters.