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Moments Matter

It has been well said that our life is made up of a series of moments. We may be tempted to think little of these moments because we appear to have a lot of them. 

But what if these little moments were actually very important? 

The little moments of our lives make up our lives. They color, shape and accent our lives. It would follow then that these moments are very important. 


Moses was a man who lived a very unique life. He saw and did things that none of us ever will see and do (with apology to Henry Blackaby). However, there is one moment that sticks out and stings.

In Numbers 20 we read of the grumbling Isreaelites. They were upset over a myriad of things but here they did not have water. God, being gracious, tells Moses to speak to a rock so that water would flow to hydrate the parched sojourners.

Moses gets a little ahead of himself and instead of speaking to the rock he strikes it. The water still comes out however, but God is not pleased. 

And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” (Num 20:11-12)

God exegetes this behavior and says that this action disregarded divine holiness and it reeked of unbelief. The consequence is loud–you shall not enter the promised land! Let me put it another way, you shall die in the desert because you did not regard me as holy-you acted in an unbelieving way. 

While this passage may baffle us in our pragmatic reflexes–after all he got the water, whatever works right?! — it arrests our unbelief by connecting a diminishing view of God’s holiness with an increase in disobedience. This, says God, is unbelief. And it has consequences.

There were many great moments in the life of Moses, but this was not one of them. The moment, like a drop of food coloring in water, colors the whole life. Moments matter.

This is why we can look to Jesus who not only lived a better life than Moses, but he lived every single moment better (Heb. 3:1). He did everything, every moment in a way that was pleasing to his Father (Jn. 8:29).  Therefore, we know that when we come to trust in him his perfect record of righteousness is credited to our account. 

It is this good news that liberates us from the paralysis of our imperfections to delight in his perfection for us. We serve out of loving obedience to Christ because he has done all of this for us. You can take that to the bank, every moment of every day.

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