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Conversations with the Culture:  Helping To Answer the Question, "What Is Truth?"

About the Author, David Lantz

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Recent Blog  Posts

Following a Vision to Go to the Other Side of the Hill - Part I

October Issue of Conversations with the Culture

Launching a BLOG

E Pluribus Unum

Would Jesus Call Evil Good?

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Hey down there. Yah, Joan of Arc, I’m Talking to YOU!

REMEMBER in Whose Name You're Fighting.  I have STANDARDS, Ya Know!!!

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    Digging Deeper

In the 1999 movie, The Messenger depicts the life of St. Joan of Arc, the 15^th Century French war heroine. Played by Milla Jovovich, the movie traces her as a young girl through to her being burned at the stake.  Dustin Hoffman plays a character at the end of the movie called “The Man,” and has a conversation with her while she waits in her cell to be executed.  No one else but Joan can see the man, and they have the following conversation:          

JEANNE Yes! We fought and killed in His name... the King of Heaven!   MAN Really? FLASH: Jeanne is seated in her saddle before Orleans, raising her standard with the cry – JEANNE Let all who love me follow me! Back in Jeanne's cell: MAN "Let all who love me follow me"... Where does God get mentioned? (Jeanne is cornered) Come on Jeanne, be honest. You fought for yourself, in your name. 

Moses had led the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years.  Just as he had led sheep for forty years under the guidance of his father-in-law, Moses had guided Israel under the watchful eye of God.  In Numbers chapter 20, we read that they had come once again to the wilderness of Zin, an area in what is known as the northern part of the Negev.  This was the same area from whence Moses had sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land (Numbers 13:21).  Once again, as they had so many times in the past, the people grumbled.  This time, they complained because there was no water.

Moses and Aaron came to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces before God.  The Lord spoke to Moses, saying (Numbers 20:8):

 Take the rod, and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before all their eyes, that it may yield its water. (emphasis added) 

Once before, in Exodus 17:5-6, God had instructed to bring forth water by striking a rock.  This time, Moses was told to simply speak to the rock.  Moses disobeyed God in how he brought forth water from the rock, but his sin was not so much in what he did, but why he did it.  In Numbers 20:9-11, we read:

So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock.  And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you from this rock?”  Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly. (emphasis added)

Note that, before he struck the rock, Moses lectured the people, asking them if he and Aaron should bring forth water for them.  There was no mention of God being the one performing the work.  Psalms 106:33 records Moses’ first sin:  “He spoke rashly with his lips.”

Certainly, Moses was tired of hearing the “same ole same ole” from the people, but God did not approve of the way Moses handled the situation.  After forty years, God expected Moses to trust Him completely and give Him the glory for actions on behalf of the people.  By showing his frustration with the people and claiming credit for the miracle of bringing forth water, Moses was in one sense saying this to God:  “OK God, you’re obviously not as in control of this situation as I thought you were.  I’m going to have to throw my weight around to show them I mean business.”

And when Moses struck the rock – twice – to bring forth water – that’s exactly what he did.

 Think about this for just a moment, and ask yourself this question:  Which is more dramatic – which visually demonstrates your command of the situation to two million people watching your every move.  To speak softly to a rock, or with a flourish of sweeping motions, strike it with your staff?  By striking the rock with a flurry, Moses hoped to demonstrate that he was in control.

Only he wasn’t.  God was.  Moses’ sin was that he forgot that very key fact, but worse, that he tried to make others forget it too.  Moses had fallen into a trap that – if we’re honest – probably would have ensnared the vast majority of us as well.  Sooner or later, a leader falsely comes to believe that his success, and the success of the people he leads, are one in the same.  Such a leader fails to recognize that in the course of building a church, a business, or an organization, he needs and receives help form others.  That is why, when a leader has guided those he leads through the turbulent times of building the organization, he must guard against the temptation to let success go to his head during the good times.  Therefore, our ninth principle for the Godly leader is: