Excerpt from Numbers 27:12-14   

"When the whole community complained against me…you refused to acknowledge my holy power before them."

Reflection by William C. Green

Moses was barred from the promised land because of a mistake he made that insulted God. As Kyra Sedgwick (Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson) said in TNT's "The Closer," after listening empathetically to a good man who had committed a crime, "I love you. You're under arrest." In effect, that's what God said to much-loved Moses. "You will not enter the land I am giving my people."
 
Midway through the wilderness journey the people were dying of thirst. God had commanded Moses to speak to a rock and then water would flow. Moses was so furious with the raucous crowd that he didn't just speak to the rock, he struck it hard with his staff, twice.

Moses' sin was not his anger, which was understandable, but his irreverence.  For all anyone knew, Moses was responsible, not the power of God, which Moses misrepresented and took into his own hands.

Moses later accepted responsibility for what he'd done wrong—without forgetting what he'd done right. He had led the people to the brink of a promising land. He couldn't get in, but they could! So his life ended in a song about God's deliverance through so much trouble. And then he blessed the people, knowing God's forgiving love.

Forgiveness can't mean much if we don't believe there's much to forgive. Neither can responsibility. Moses knew both and his days ended happily. So it can be for us.

Prayer

Merciful God, your forgiveness restores us to responsibility. I pray for forgiveness. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

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