One of the worst spankings I ever got as a child was when my mother told me to do something I did not want to do and I refused. Mom cranked up the volume and amped up the command. Then I uttered a line I had heard a woman say in a television program: “I wish I had never been born!” 

Did I mention this was one of the worst spankings I ever received?

If you have been reading along in Exodus and Numbers, you know there are several moments where the people complained. After their last big episode of whining and grumbling, the families of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were swallowed up by the ground. (See Numbers 16:31-34.) Fire came out and consumed 250 men who were offering incense after declaring they were just as holy as Aaron and his sons. (See Numbers 16:35.)

The people continued complaining, so God sent a plague that killed 14,700 more people. (See Numbers 16:46-50.) This series of events where the people challenged Moses and Aaron went on for a while. Moses and Aaron fell facedown time and again seeking God’s wisdom and direction. God kept giving it. The people kept complaining. The more they complained, the more people died. 

Their complaints were not about Moses and Aaron and their leadership. Their complaints were about God’s directions. God takes his commands seriously. He wanted them to take them seriously. He wanted them to learn the blessings of obedience, the rewards of following his directions. Psalm 62 ends this way:

Moses and Aaron fell facedown. The glory of the LORD appeared to them. God gave clear and simple directions to solve their problem. When we have a problem, we take it to God in humble dependence and ask what to do next. He tells us what to do. We do it. God does what only God can do. In this case, he gave instructions to bring water out of a rock. Sometimes God asks us to do something seemingly impossible. What is impossible for him? Follow his directions. Receive the gift he wants to give. 

As it turns out, Moses and Aaron probably should have stayed facedown a little longer. They got up while they were still angry. They spoke to the people instead of the rock. They expressed their displeasure with the people. They tried to do God’s will their way. They interfered with the lesson God was trying to teach. 

I wonder if Jesus’ little brother James was pondering this episode when he wrote, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires,” (James 1:19, 20)?

This chapter begins with the death of Miriam (verse 1). It ends with the death of Aaron (verses 22-29). Moses would never enter the Promised Land because of his disobedience and his failure to trust God and to do what he told him to do the way he told him to do it. 

Falling facedown before God is not enough. It is not a magic trick to get God’s attention and to make him do what we want him to do. When we go to our knees in prayer, or when we fall facedown on the ground, we are to pour out our hearts to God. We are also to open our ears. We are to take careful notes regarding what God says. We are to follow his directions precisely. Do not get up off of your knees or off of your face until you are determined to do God’s will God’s way. 

And never, never, ever confuse your authority with God’s. Moses asked, “must we bring you water out of this rock?” (verse 10). No, not We. He. He alone could do that.