Numbers 20:8 – “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, I was drawn to a truth we tend to obscure. Explicit Obedience!  In Numbers 20, we have the account of the second encounter with the Rock.  The people were in a dry place, and God, as He had before, provided water from a Rock.  The first time, Moses was instructed to strike the rock.  This time, he was to speak to the rock.

The first encounter was symbolic and even prophetic of Jesus’ crucifixion.  From Jesus comes the Living Water.  This Rock symbolized that coming reality.

The second encounter symbolizes coming to the crucified Christ in prayer. “Speak to the Rock. (v. 8).   Moses, in his impatience, acted impetuously and struck the Rock twice.  God’s anger soared.  It was as if Moses had attempted to crucify Jesus again.   God expects and demands explicit obedience.  That is not tyrannical but love. Explicit obedience empowers and protects.

1 Corinthians 10:3-4 – “And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink – for they were drinking from a SPIRITUAL ROCK that FOLLOWED THEM, and the Rock was MESSIAH.”

Balaam was given explicit instructions. Mary gave the servants explicit instructions (John 2:5). Jesus said in John 5:19 & 30 that He explicitly obeyed the Father. He said only what He HEARD and did only what He SAW.

Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh has no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are Life.” Peter grasped that revelation in (v. 68): “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!”

Do we obey “explicitly” or “superficially?”   Being born again and dying to self leaves no place to include the flesh. Disobedience cost many the Promised Land, and failure to explicitly obey cost Moses & Aaron the Promised Land. The record is filled with examples of the destruction of Disobedience and the blessing of explicit obedience.

When we say, “Jesus is my Savior,” we claim to be born again and transformed.  We claim to have died to the flesh. But unless He is LORD, we will find ourselves reverting to the flesh and fail to obey explicitly. That isolates and separates.

Jesus, be Savior & LORD. I surrender ALL.