Moses was supposed to lead the Israelites into the promised land. However, one act of disobedience resulted in him not being able to enter. Does this mean we should become fearful of missing the simplest instruction from God, lest we be denied His favour or the fulfilment of a promise? Absolutely not. Let’s take a closer look and see the beautiful truth the Lord intended us to receive from this account: God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would produce the water the people were crying for. Instead of just trusting God’s Word and obeying it, Moses was filled with frustration, and deliberately disobeyed God – he struck the rock twice in anger. He shouted at the people while he did it and took the credit for causing the water to flow (Numbers 20:10). Moses completely misrepresented God’s heart. The water-giving rock is used as a symbol of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). If you remember, the first time the people drank water from a rock in the wilderness was recorded in Exodus 17:6. Here God told Moses to strike the rock once. This was symbolic of how Jesus was struck or crucified just once for our sins, so that we could receive salvation (Hebrews 7:27). Then, when Moses was to speak to the rock, instead of striking it, in Numbers 20, God was wanting to symbolize how we are able to come to the Lord in prayer. Jesus is now our High Priest, we can approach Him in faith and simply ask and He answers every time (Matthew 18:19, John 14:13-14, Mark 11:23-24). When Moses angrily struck the rock, he destroyed the biblical typology and, as one Bible commentary wrote, in effect, crucified Christ again. There’s no mistaking the Lord’s love and tenderness towards Moses. His Word boasts of how much He regarded him in both old and new testaments. However, even Moses could not attain the qualities of a Saviour who is perfect and without sin in every way. Only Jesus Christ can hold that quality and is worthy of being recognized as such. He is our true Saviour, and our faithful High Priest. We can always go before Him in confidence and faith and receive what we ask for.