Daily Devotional #1910

We have been reading through the Bible this year and on my second pass I read again about Moses leading the people of Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Early on in their journey the thousands of people had run out of water and Moses asked God what he should do. God told him to take the staff he always had and strike a certain rock and water would gush out. He did and God made the water pour out for the people. But then something happens almost 40 years later. They are in a similar situation and the thousands of people are angry at Moses because they don't have water out in this wilderness. So Moses faithfully comes to God and God answers and says go to this particular rock, but speak to it. I don't know what Moses was thinking, maybe he was tired, frustrated or even uncertain. Instead of doing what God had told him to do, speak to the rock, he fell back on what worked some 40 years ago and bangs on the rock with his staff. As a result, God tells Moses that after all the work he has done, he will not get to go into the Promised Land with the rest of the people. He will stand at the border but because of his disregard of God's command...he will never step foot in that land. A lot of times we will hold on to things that worked in the past and maybe because we saw God working through them. But God is not asking us to hold on to old habits or past successes. He is asking us to listen to him today and hear with our ears and receive his words to our hearts and then do what he told us to do. It isn't easy. Moses was a great man of God...but he did what his head told him was the right thing to do instead of holding on to the Word of God. Rejoice when you see God lead or answer prayer or solve a problem. But remember he isn't giving you a "magic formula" that you get to invoke when times get tough. He wants us to depend on him. Keep listening to God, first through his Word. And then follow his lead. We don't know everything or how everything comes together. God does. Listen to what he says and be willing to go and do 
things that are not like the old or the comfortable or the learned habits. Remember always that...Heavenly Father Knows Best! Here's our Bible verse for today... 
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; (6) in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 
Remember I'm praying for you,