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This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
Numbers 20:12-13 – 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.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them He showed Himself holy.
I’ve got a leather bag that my family gave me as a gift. The leather isn’t imitation, it’s full grain, held together with high-quality stitching and steel rivets. It’s made this way so it’ll get better with wear. The company that makes it promises a 100-year warranty. They say, “Your kids will fight over it when you’re dead.” I’ve had mine for seven years now, so, it’s got at least 93 more to go.
It’s just starting to wear in.
Moses, however, is worn out. He’s been at it around 120 years now. And he is worse for the wear. He’s coming apart at the seams. Maybe the consequence seems harsh. God has him run a 40-year marathon and now He won’t let him finish, all for a little mistake? But Moses is held to a higher standard. He’s supposed to represent God to the people. There must be higher standards for those who represent God, because God is holy.
God’s holiness is His power to make high-quality work, craftmanship that lasts. God has exacting standards, because any other way, it won’t wear in. It’ll wear out. The standard is higher for Moses and Aaron and for anyone called to represent God as the image of God, which is you, by the way, and me. So, Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Seems like a small thing, like eating from the one fruit tree God told you not to eat from. It seems like a small thing, not to trust God’s Word. But if you don’t trust God, you’ll fear, love, and trust something else. And that becomes your god. And from those little imitation gods, every evil comes. The universe doesn’t work right, anymore. And we wear ourselves out.
God has high standards because He wants His work to last, to get better for wear. But God’s standard isn’t a quality-control checklist. God’s standard is love—self-giving, sacrificial love.
The standard isn’t a list, it’s the heart of God—the God who doesn’t just hold His people to a high standard, but holds them, even when they don’t measure up. Moses fails here, but eventually he made it into the Promised Land, remember? When he showed up with Elijah on the mountain, hanging alongside the Holy One whose face shined with the radiance of God—that was the Promised Land (see Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9). Moses got to come along for the ride after all, because Jesus held God’s standard for us. He gave Himself on the cross to raise us up into the heart of God.
That leather bag my family gave me—I’ve carried it all over the country. People often comment on it, there, hanging on my shoulder. “I love your bag,” they say. The quality catches their eye. It’s not me wearing the bag, actually. The bag is wearing me. I’m just along for the ride.
WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, thank You for wearing me in to the standard of Your Father’s love. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions:
- Why do you hold onto special possessions—is it for their quality, or their sentimental value?
- When was a time when life started to wear on you, and it exposed your less praiseworthy side?
- God calls His people to cling to Him like a well-worn undergarment (see Jeremiah 13:11), and to “put on” Christ as our clothing (see Galatians 3:27 and Colossians 3:12). Which image are you more drawn to? Why?
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