I've heard my whole life that Moses, the leader of Israel back in the day, was not allowed by God to enter the 'promised land' of Israel because he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. The rock, of course, gushed out water for the Israelites to drink.
But that is incorrect. The REAL reason that what he did was a 'sin' was because of what he said, not what he did.
Psalm 106:32-33 "They [the people of Israel] angered Him [Yahweh] also at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses because of them; For they embittered his spirit, and he spoke rashly with his lips." (emphasis mine)
Ok, so it looks like God frowned on Moses 'speaking rashly'. What does the actual account say?
Numbers 20:7-13 says,
7 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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."
9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD, just as He had commanded him;
10 and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?"
11 Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them."
Notice what Moses says: "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?" Another version says "must we fetch you water out of this rock?"
In other words, "you idiots! Do Aaron and I have to do everything for you faithless people? Fine! But don't forget who you're indebted to!"
Because Moses whacking a big rock with a stick and water pouring out of it is a great Sunday school picture, that's what gets taught. But that's erroneous teaching.
It wasn't the action; it was his WORDS, and the MOTIVE behind the words. Namely, that He took credit for something, in anger, which should have been credited to God.
At least that's what I get out of it. Words (and their motives), are powerful.
1 Samuel 16:7 "for [the LORD sees] not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
At the end of the day, it's all about motives. And the only way to truly know my motives is to analyze myself objectively and logically…