Lesson 149 – When the Spirit Faces Rebellion

Psalm 106:32-33

"They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it went will with Moses on account of them; because they rebelled against His Spirit, so that he spoke rashly with his lips."

You probably remember the background of this psalm, how Moses let his anger get the best of him as the children of Israel grumbled against God's provision. In the end, Moses claimed the glory of God as his own, bringing the miracle of water from the Rock without giving honor to God. Ultimately, God righteously judges Moses, not allowing him to enter into Canaan with the rest of the nation. Always seemed a little harsh to me, but in this case, God chose to withhold further grace from Moses' life.

But what you might not recall is the truth which is pointed to in this verse. The sin which Israel committed that day was not simply of forgetting the faithfulness God had already provided to them in food and water and protection through the years, but was the sin of rebellion against God's Spirit. In God's eyes, their grumbling was a matter of rejecting his very presence among the nation, for when we are aware of the Spirit, we can be sure God provides for his own.

I suspect many of our sins cut deeply into God's heart, for when love is involved, hurts are magnified, even those belonging to our Savior. When we sin against God, even in our grumbling, we are doing more than simply violating God's moral laws. Instead, we are rejecting God's very nature.

Of course, rebellion is a heinous sin, fully worthy of God's judgment, needing to be cut in the bud before it spreads throughout the church. And God's sure judgment will come, and in it, we need to return to the Lord. In doing so, our prayers need to be as David often voiced, asking the Lord not to withhold his presence.

As rebels, we live in danger God will leave us alone in the desert, causing us live in thirst until we turn our hearts back to God. This is what a loving God does…whatever it takes to bring us back to a dependence on him. While this is never an easy thing, in the end, it causes our lives to be conformed to the image of Christ.

LORD JESUS

Lord, I thank you for your Spirit among us. I'm truly sorry for rebellion against you in my life, as I've often grumbled against you even when receiving your provision. Instead, I ask for my delight to be in you. Amen.