"Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it my yield its water." [Numbers 20:8]
This event is basically a repeat of Exodus 17:6. Israel had just come through the Red Sea—they had crossed over on the dry land, seen their enemies wiped out and had seen the pillars of cloud and fire that guided and protected them. They had been protected through the plagues of Egypt and had seen God miraculously provide manna for food in the midst of the wilderness.
The people complained that they had no water—God told Moses to strike the rock with his rod and water came out for them to drink.
But this time, God told Moses to do something different. Instead of physically striking the rock, He told Moses to SPEAK TO THE ROCK...
Now, this is just my opinion, but I think He expected Moses' faith to be more fully developed than before. Even though we all know that hitting a rock with a stick won't bring forth water, it is still a natural, physical act that seems to make sense on a certain level. If I hit it, it will yield. Particularly for the male of the species...
But now, after all that Moses had seen, after Moses had seen God work by His Word in the earth, I think God was saying, in effect, come up to the next level.
Certainly Jesus taught us to speak to the physical world. Certainly the entire book of Proverbs teaches us to live by the fruit of our lips.
Maybe, like Moses, it's time for us to speak to the rock. We know that the Father has gladly given us the Kingdom...that all things belong to us and He has given us all things richly to enjoy. We know that every promise of God is yes in Him and that we are redeemed from the curse. Maybe it's time to speak to the rock of seemingly immoveable physical circumstance and command the blessings to come forth! They belong to us, just like provision belonged to the Israelites, based on God's eternal covenant with Abraham.
We have an eternal covenant, too, in the precious Blood of Jesus...a better covenant with better promises!
Maybe, just maybe, it's time for us to enter our Promised Land...the Sabbath rest of His works, finished from the foundation of the world.
Why didn't the Israelites enter His rest? Because '...the word they heard did not profit them, because it was NOT UNITED BY FAITH IN THOSE WHO HEARD.' [Hebrews 4:2]
Time to wrest our inheritance from the rock of physical circumstance. It already belongs to us!
Speak to the rock.
