Eligibility

Eligibility
July 8, 2013
Numbers 20:10  "He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, 'Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?'"

Moses was an amazing leader; no one would deny that.  He was an effective administrator, he had an intimate walk with the Lord (one that has never been paralleled today), and he was lauded as being the most humble man that ever lived.  There are few leaders who could be compared to Moses.  Moses did not necessarily have an easy life, but he lived out an excellent example of a successful Christian walk.  Except for one thing.  Moses had an anger management problem.  His anger problem was a big enough deal to make him ineligible for his earned earthly blessings.  Moses deserved a few good things in his life; he worked hard enough to receive them, but his anger management problem removed his eligibility to partake of the Lord's promised blessings.

The earthly blessing Moses forfeited was his future life in the Promised Land.  Remember that Moses was leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt, then out of the desert into the territory promised to them by the Lord, the land flowing with milk and honey.  But Moses did something that made the Lord decide he couldn't live in that land.  Moses was instructed to speak to a rock in order to provide water for the Israelites.  When at the place prescribed, he got angry with the Israelites, angry enough that he struck the rock with his staff instead of speaking to it as directed.  This frustrated the Lord and so He removed Moses' eligibility for the Promised Land.  It seems a little harsh, one moment of regret removed all the good Moses had done, making him ineligible for the blessing.  But I would suggest the moment at the rock was simply the last straw for the Lord's patience with Moses' anger issues.

Recall that Moses killed a man in his earlier years, the reason he left living in Pharaoh's house in the first place.  Moses was 40 years old when he got angry enough to murder a man for abusing his fellow Hebrew.  Many years later, when Moses was 80, he went back to Egypt to lead the Israelites.  On one specific occasion, in Pharaoh's presence just before the last plague upon Egypt, the Bible says that Moses burned hot with anger in his dialogue with Pharaoh.  Then when Moses was 120 years old, he struck the rock with his staff out of his anger with the Israelites.  The point is, Moses didn't get rid of his anger problem at 40, he didn't learn by the time he was 80, and still had anger issues at 120.  You'd think by age 120 Moses might not be so short tempered.

Moses' refusal to deal with his anger management problem is what removed his eligibility to enter into the promised land.  While you may not necessarily struggle with anger, I know you have a specific area of your life that is a significant weakness for you.  Maybe it is faith, maybe it is envy, maybe it is pride, this list could go on.  I strongly believe that your refusal to deal with this problem, though, is hindering your earthly blessings, however successful you are in other areas of your life.  The Lord wants a complete and whole package in His children and that includes the weakest area of your life as focal point for success.  You might be disappointed in your lack of blessings received to date, but maybe it is your fault.  The Lord is holding back your blessings because you have held back from submitting those weaknesses to Him.  It is time to get help with your area of struggle; admit you have a problem and get help.  Start by confessing it to the Lord and allow Him to lead you on the path to success in those areas.  He will help you if you ask Him.  The Lord does not want to hold back your blessings; it is not part of His plan.  But He will do whatever it takes to get your attention.  Don't remove your eligibility like Moses.  Receive all that the Lord has promised you.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Ex 2:11-14, Ex 11:4-8, Ex 32:19, Num 20:2-12, Pr 3:12, Jer 29:13, Matt 6:33, James 1:5