It's Not Fair with Pastor Ben Carruthers

Ever hit a wall and think, “This just isn’t fair”? We dive into one of Scripture’s most troubling turns: Moses leads for forty years, faces endless complaints, then loses entry to the promised land after striking a rock. At first glance it sounds like cold punishment. But as we trace the text, emotions, and context, a more layered picture emerges—one that holds honest consequences, protects a fragile people, and still lavishes mercy on a worn-out leader.

We walk through the two rock moments—striking in Exodus and speaking in Numbers—and why repeating the earlier act was more than a small mistake. The crowd’s fixation on Moses as fixer sets the stage for that loaded line, “Must we bring water from this rock?” If the community already leans toward idolizing leaders, credit confusion is not harmless. God’s response both corrects and cares: Joshua has been prepared to carry the people into a hostile land, while Moses is led up Nebo to see every inch of promise before God Himself lays him to rest. Justice and tenderness meet on that mountain.

Along the way, we talk about leadership fatigue, the cost of small compromises, and why obedience is not God’s scoreboard but the path that keeps us whole. We challenge ourselves to love across lines, to stop outsourcing hope to heroes, and to give God the credit when water flows in dry seasons. And we widen the horizon with a final scene: Moses standing with Elijah at the Transfiguration, witnessing Jesus’ glory. The man who didn’t cross the Jordan still steps into the true promised land. If you’ve ever felt defined by one mistake or stuck in an “unfair” season, this conversation offers a sturdier frame—and a gentler grip.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting Up Reading In The Dark
• 1:46 The Charge Of Unfairness
• 3:27 Context For Moses At Meribah
• 6:40 Strike Then Speak: Two Rocks
• 9:50 Is This Punishment Fair
• 12:05 Disobedience And Slips Of The Tongue
• 16:00 We Versus He: Who Provides
• 19:10 Seeing God’s Bigger Picture
• 22:00 Consequences And A Jeep Story
• 26:00 Mercy On Mount Nebo

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Associate pastor here. Great to be with you, worshiping with you this morning as we dive into our current sermon series called Reading in the Dark, where we've been talking about these Old Testament and New Testament passages that are kind of hard to understand, that leave us asking the question, what in the world is going on? What is God doing? Why is God doing this? And these are some pretty intense stories. Um, but the goal of this sermon series is not for us to leave this place and be like, now I have the answer. It's all figured out. Matter of fact, it's just the opposite. It's it's an opportunity to engage in the scriptures, engage in the conversation, the stories, these ancient stories that are going on here, and an opportunity for us to better understand the heart of God. Because these stories can often bring people away from God because we don't understand them. They don't seem fair. Matter of fact, this morning the sermon's title is called It's Not Fair. You know, we see this story of Moses, Moses, the guy that you've seen in all the movies, the Ten Commandments, the Prince of Egypt. We know the stories. Moses, God's faithful servant, at the end of this 40 years, he's not allowed to go into the promised land. And that should lead us to scream, this isn't fair. And we like things fair. We do. We like things fair, right? And so for many of us, we have that one friend in high school or college who you would stay up studying your heart out the night before, packing all the information in, and you'd barely win with a C minus. And you'd have a friend who didn't do anything. A, no problem, right? It's not fair. Or we have that friend who can eat all the junk food that they want and never gain a pound. Meanwhile, we have a McDonald's French fry and we have to go buy a new belt, right? It's not fair. Or it's not fair that our quarterback from last year is now playing in the Super Bowl today. It's not fair and it doesn't make sense. Why God, right? We like things fair. And so when we see a story where we don't see it, but we know that our God is just and loving and full of grace and mercy. But when we see a story like this that doesn't represent that, it makes us pause. It makes us wonder what is going on. And so today we're gonna dive into this story. And again, the goal is not for us to have the answers and all figured out, but the goal is for us to engage in the text and the story of Moses and not just this piece of the story, but the overall context of the story and maybe see what God is doing. You're gonna hear me say the word maybe a lot today, or perhaps, because that's what we're doing. We're wrestling with the scripture today. So as we dive into that scripture, will you pray with me? Heavenly Father of God, we do give you thanks and praise. Uh first for the third grade Bible participants and what that means for these young ones to have this Bible, your word, which is full of the promises of them. It's now in their hands for them to explore and navigate. So we ask a blessing over them and their parents as they do. And Lord, this morning as well, as nothing's changed, here we are, no longer in third grade, but still navigating the scriptures, trying to figure out these stories. And this is a tough one, like the other ones have been as well. So, Lord, we pray for your guidance in this, for your discernment in this. We pray that as we engage these stories, that we're drawn closer to you and a stronger relationship with you. It's in your name we pray. Amen. So, the context of the story, what is really going on here? So, this is near the end of the Exodus, near the end of the 40 years, right? So, this is after the burning bush, this is after Moses going to talk to Pharaoh, after the plagues, after the Ten Commandments. This is the four after the 40 years of wandering in the desert. This is when this story happens. Right where on the right on the doorstep to enter the promised land, this is where the story picks up from Numbers chapter 20, verses 2 through 6, which was read, but here it is. There was no water for the people to drink at that place. So they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. The people blamed Moses and said, If only we had died in the Lord's presence with our brothers, why have you brought the congregation of the Lord's people into this wilderness to die along with all of our livestock? Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, and no water to drink. So here they are after 40 years of wandering, and the Israelites have a little complaint. Okay? They have a little complaint about what is going on. Now, I will tell you this. Scripture tells us that there are 10 instances in the Old Testament where the Israelites behave in this manner. Now you're thinking, 10 out of 40 years, that's not bad odds, right? Ten times that we know about. All right. I really believe that, man, the writer of Numbers was not like, I'm not gonna keep putting this in because people are not gonna like these people, right? 10 times that we know about, and it's it's pretty, it's pretty intense language like that. When they go to Moses and say, What have you done to us? What has God done? I would I want to go back to Egypt. I want to go back to slavery. Death would be better than out here. And so you see them complain over and over and over again, at least 10 times to Moses. So at least 10 times Moses has heard the cry of the Israelites and gone to God, just like they're asking them to do here, at least 10 times that we know about. That things have gotten so bad for them that they believe, and that God has forsaken them, that they believe, that they go to Moses and say, This is on you, man. This is on you. You let us out here. We've been walking with you, you're our leader. What have you done? It's important to understand that because you can see why Moses might start to get a little frustrated. After 40 years of hearing the same complaints, and after 40 years of always going to God and God providing every time, it might be starting to bubble up for him. So he goes and speaks to God. And so Numbers 20, verse 8 says this. You and Aaron, this is after he goes and visits God and says, God, this is what's happening. I'm pretty sure you're aware the Israelites are frustrated again. This is what he says, you and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community as the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and the livestock. So God tells Moses what to do. He says, Go down and speak to the rock. Now, some of you may know this may this is not the first time that Moses had to have an interaction with a rock to bring water forth for the Israelites. At the very beginning of the 40 years, at the very beginning of the Exodus, we read in Exodus 17 that right after fleeing, the Israelites are upset. They just left slavery, they're upset, they're a little parched, they got a little, you know, dry throat, and they're really thirsty. And so they go and say this the Lord said to Moses, walk out in front of the people, take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai, strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink. So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out while everyone looked on. So Moses had this interaction before. Moses has brought water out from the rock before. Forty years ago, at the beginning of the Exodus, God said, Go and strike the rock, and water came forth. Now, 40 years later, God tells him to go and speak to the rock, and water will come forth. But what does Moses do? He strikes the rock. And this is where we're left in the story where it says, Because of this, because of this action, you can't go to the promised land. This is the part of the story where we should all stand up and cry out, this is not fair. How could this be possible? This is Moses we're talking about. The back of his baseball card is full of highlights. Full of highlights. This is the same Moses that spoke to the burning bush and was told by God that you're going to set my people free. This is the same God that went and took on Pharaoh, the ruler of the most powerful nation, where his people have been slaves for hundreds of years. He went and took Pharaoh on. He's the same guy that navigated the Israelites during the plagues of Egypt and kept them safe. He's the same Moses that parted the Red Sea, and he's the same Moses that has led faithfully over 40 years in the wandering of the desert. And it's this one action that he's told he can't enter the promised land. Not only is this the back of his highlights real, but listen to this. Numbers 12, verse 3 says this. Now Moses was very humble, more humble than anyone on earth. Now I'm going to tell you that Moses wrote the book of Numbers. So I don't know what that means, but it's the word of God. He's a humble man, right? Besides that fact, we have this faithful man that we've seen throughout all the stories. A humble man who would tell you himself, we have this person who served God faithfully, and one mistake. I mean, he's had more, but this is the one that we're talking about here. This is the one that God is bringing up. This is the one that God says, because of this, because you struck the rock, you will not enter the promised land. So what is going on to have this servant of God be treated like this? Because this doesn't make sense. This isn't the God that I know, the God that we read about in scripture. Scholars believe there might be two reasons what's going on here. Scholars think there might be two things. And the first, quite frankly and simply, is this Moses disobeys God. Moses disobeys God. He was told to go and speak to the rock. Instead, he strikes the rock. He disobeys God. But let's just hold on for a second here, okay? He disobeys God, granted. But it's been 40 years of this. 40 years, and they're on the doorstep of the promised land. God has almost brought them there. It's been 40 years of Moses leading this pack of people who probably at times see ungrateful, who continue to try to go and worship idols, who continue to blame to continue to blame him for everything that's going on. It's 40 years of this. At least 10 times that we know about that. He's had to go to God to bring water or food or something, manna from heaven. They're so upset at the manna, it tells us earlier in scripture, that they were like, we're done with this free bread from God stuff. We want to go back to Egypt and get a burger. You know, they want meat, they want steak. They had it, like, bring us back to slavery. Moses sees, man, they're ungrateful. They don't see God blessing them and keeping them going. And so for the 10th time, he goes and talks to God, and God says, I'm gonna again save them. Go down and do this. And can you imagine just the tension bubbling up in Moses and the anger and maybe the resentment of all this stuff? And he's like, Man, this is like the tenth time, they're just not gonna get it. God keeps saving them. And he's been there before at the rock, right? This has happened before where he's been told to go and have water come from the rock. Maybe in his moment of anger, he forgets one time. And he gets to that rock and he's like, Oh, yeah, I've been here before, I've done this, and he strikes the rock. We can understand that. We know what it's like to have stressful lives. And if you're a paramed, you know what it's like to balance schedules and all these different personalities in a family. And you can imagine just one little slip like that. But as the theologian points out, he disobeyed God. Even if we can rationalize it, even if it makes sense, he says God disobey Moses disobeys. Another theologian, Ellen Davis, says this. She's an old testament scholar. She says, it's not what Moses did, but what he said. It's what he said. In Numbers 20, 10, it reads this. It says this. Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. Listen, you rebels, he shouted. Must we bring water from this rock? What do you notice in that sentence there? It looks a little like this. Must we bring water from the rock? Must me, Moses, and my brother Aaron, must we do this for you? See, she she says in that moment of anger and uh being upset and whatever he's dealing with in that moment, maybe he forgot who was really providing, who was really doing these miracles, who really had the power. But man, we can understand this. It's a slip of the tongue. A matter of fact, in the Hebrew, in the Hebrew, it's so small, it's one letter difference in scripture where we read, shall we, the Hebrew word is Natsi, where it says, shall he, which would mean God, it's yatsi. Not Yahtsi. Yotsi. It's one little letter. Can you imagine his frustration and his anger and all this kind of stuff? 40 years that he comes down and it's just a little slip of the tongue. I can't tell you how many times I've been talking to one of my kids and they're doing something silly, and I'm like, and then I'm saying I'm talking to Isaiah, my oldest, and I call him every other name. I'm like, Arlo, Maya, Anna, Loki, the dog's name, even, right? And I just can't get it right because I'm so flustered and upset. Here it's one letter. We can rationalize this. This one letter is why he can't go to the promised land. It doesn't make sense. So then we're still stuck with the why. Why in the world is this happening? And this is where we dive into the scripture ourselves and hopefully take in a bigger picture. And that's exactly the first thing that I I'll say to you is I think there's a moment here that we have to stop and realize, and outside of just our own space and what we see, and understand that maybe, just maybe, God sees the bigger picture. That God sees the bigger picture here. Maybe God sees that over the past 40 years, He's raised up this young, strong leader named Joshua. And he's ready to lead these people into the promised land. Ready to take on everything that is in there, which is enemies, people who don't want them there, people who are going to attack them. And God has prepared this young leader, Joshua, to take the reins. Maybe that's an important picture that we don't see because we're so focused on this part of the story. Or maybe that one letter slip is a bit bigger than we think. Because as we read the Exodus story, as we read the story of the Israelites, time and time and time again, when they're hungry, when they're thirsty, when they wish they could go back to be slaves in Egypt, they turn to Moses, not to God. Or if they don't turn to Moses, sometimes they turn to an idol or a different God. You see, their faithfulness not necessarily is in God Almighty, but in Moses. When they get into this new land, if they see Moses as God. Maybe there's a bigger picture here, and maybe in that bigger picture, it's not punishment, it's not because he broke the rules and it's black and white. Maybe in this it's not fair attitude, we really see God's mercy and grace being shown to Moses and being shown to his people. Because these rules and boundaries, when God asks us to follow him, when God asks us to obey him, it's not because he's keeping track of our rights and wrongs. It's because when we obey him, that's the life that he wants for us. It's the life that he wants for his people. Because God sees the plan from a different view than we do. So maybe, just maybe, God sees the bigger picture. And the other thing, maybe, and this isn't really popular to talk about, but maybe there is consequences to our actions. Maybe there's consequences to our actions. When I was a young man, um I had a philosophy in life, and it's not good. I don't encourage anyone, especially young people in this room, to do this. Um, but I'm gonna share it anyways. Um, when I was young, I had this philosophy that I would not pay the registration or the tabs on my car to get new tabs until I got pulled over by an officer. Uh again, not great, but I'm telling you, it worked for like five or six years. I wouldn't do it and I'd get pulled over, and they're like, hey, your tab's like three months late. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm sorry about that. And they're like, well, get them taken care of. I'm like, we'll do, officer. And then of course I'll go do it the next day. Four or five years I'd do this. I'm like, oh, it must be time to get new tabs. And I was driving, man, and my Jeep rangular, I had the top off, the doors off, music blaring. It was long ago, nickelback was roaring on my radio. And I was driving to volleyball. I played beach volleyball on the team, and sure enough, the the cop lights lit up behind me, and I was like, it must be time to update my tabs, you know? And sure enough, he pulls me over. It's about the fourth or fifth time this has happened in years. And he gets up, man, he was not playing. I don't know if they can tell on their computer that, like, there was a note like, don't let this guy off anymore or something. But he came up and he's like, Your tabs are overdue. I was like, Oh, thanks, officer. Can I go now? You know? He's like, you know, I could tow your vehicle right now. I was like, I was unaware of that fact. He's like, I want you to go home right now, and I don't want to see you on this road. And me in my young stupidness, I was like, Well, actually, I play volleyball just right down there. Is it okay if I go to the game? He looked at me and said, if I see you drive past on this road, I will pull you over and I will tow your vehicle. I was like, all right, officer. So I did not play volleyball that night. There are consequences to our actions. Now I will tell you, in all honesty, if you go out in the parking lot right now, there's a 1998 green Lincoln town car with expired tabs, but they're paid. Okay, they're paid. I paid for them. I did it. I learned my lesson. There are consequences to our actions. We don't like that. We don't like hearing that. We don't like hearing that there are consequences to our actions. And sometimes these consequences are made because we fully know it. We fully engage in the behavior. I knew I was driving with expired tabs. We know that when we see speed limit 55 when we're going 80, we know what we're doing. We know when we pick up that pack of cigarettes and it says that warning label on there, we know what we're doing. We know when we pick up that coffee mug that says if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, we know what's going on. There are consequences to our actions. And so maybe a consequence of his action of disobedience was for him not to enter the promised land. That's not a popular view. That's not the view we like to talk about, but it's an absolute reality that there are consequences to our actions. Because God calls us to be obedient because it's what's best for us and it's what's best for the kingdom of God. With all that said, Moses' story doesn't end here, and this is the important part. Moses' story does not end here because the picture that I see of Moses when it ends there, it's like, wow, so Moses was just sitting there and he's just gonna die, and everyone's gonna walk in. But we read in Deuteronomy 34, 1 through 6, the end of Moses' life. This is how he died. Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisapik, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land from Gilead as far as Dan, all the land of Naphtili, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and the land of Judea, extending to the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev, the Jordan Valley, with Jericho, the city of Palms, as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to Moses, This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, I will give it to you, your descendants. I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said. The Lord buried him. God. God buried him in a valley near Beth Por in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place. See, we don't think of this picture of Moses not entering. Instead, we might think of something like this picture. This is, yes, it's very sad. This is my son Arlo when he was a year and a half old. And uh, I got this picture, this is many years ago, probably seven. Eight years ago now. And I was working at a as a manager at a video store, which I understand is a really old sentence. So um, and I got this picture from my wife, and it just said, Arlo has been behaving so poorly, I had to put him in timeout. And I saw this picture, it broke my heart. I'm like, this kid is so full of life all the time, always running, always playing. And I saw this picture, and this broke my heart. And I have to give kudos to my wife, man, because if I was there and I saw that face, I'd be like, You're done. Timeout's over, man. You're good. She stuck with it. I saw this picture and it broke my heart. And last night when I was going over my sermon, I don't know if this is the picture when I thought about what we think about Moses not going into the promised land. I think this is the view that we have of it. This man who sits in his consequence for being disobedient to God. Sitting there full of shame and guilt of what he did. Sadness for what he will not be able to do. But that's not the picture that the scripture tells us. It paints us a different picture. It looks more like this. This is the view from the mountaintop if you were to go there today. This is the view that Moses saw. After 40 years of wandering, the ups and downs of his people who don't deserve this. He gets to sit on the mountaintop and see the entire promised land. And he gets to see this group of people who don't deserve this gift enter the promised land. And he gets to do this with God. He was a faithful servant of God. He had this incredible relationship. Unlike really anything in Scripture, Moses had the ability when God would be like, Man, my people are morons. I am going to destroy them or I'm going to do this. Moses multiple times goes to God and says, Hold on, don't do that. Moses had this incredible relationship. So at the end of his life, he's not sitting on a stairwell with guilt and shame and remorse for his actions. Instead, in grace and mercy and in love, he's sitting on the mountaintop with his creator, seeing his creator's plan in action. This is a story of grace and mercy, not of punishment or of guilt and shame. This is a story of a God who sees a bigger picture of what's best for Moses, of what's best for his people, of what's best for you. When you are in those moments of life where you say, This isn't fair, I'm trying to do all the things right, and life just keeps piling on me, or man, this isn't fair. I know I made a mistake, but it was just a little mistake. This isn't fair. When we're in those moments and we feel alone and we feel guilt and shame, that we're not worthy. This is the picture that God sits with us. He reminds us that we're not alone in those moments, that he is a God of love and grace and mercy. And the things that you do, the things of this life is not going to keep him away from you. This is the picture that Moses saw at his death. And then God himself buries him. God himself buries him. So what does the story mean to you? Is the story, as you look at it, one of simple as, man, he broke the rules. And fair enough for that. That's it. All right, boundaries are there. Obedience is asked by God, maybe. But maybe this is something more. Maybe this story is a reminder of God's grace and mercy in our life. Maybe this story is more about reminding us of the importance of being obedient to God, not because he's checking the boxes, but because it's what's best for you and it's what's best for the kingdom. Can you imagine if everyone who claims to follow Jesus at this moment started acting like it? And didn't go out there and if someone disagreed with your viewpoint on something, trash them on social media. I am so guilty of this. I'll be looking at the news or reading something posted by someone, and out loud I'll just blurt, oh, look at these morons. It's horrible. I know, I hurt saying it out loud in front of you. But I say it, look at these idiots, what are they doing? And my little children are picking up, and we'll see something on the news the next day, and they'll be like, Are these the idiots, Dad? And then my wife puts me in the stairwell for a timeout immediately following. But we're guilty, but what if we truly obeyed God and know that we're called to love Him and love other people, which includes the people we disagree with? Which includes the people on the far right or the far left and wherever you are in the middle. What if we did that? He doesn't call us to do that because he's checking the list to make sure you're nice to everybody. He's doing that because he knows that's what's best for you. And he knows that's what's best for the kingdom of God. Maybe that's what the story is about. I'm gonna leave you with this passage of scripture because this still is not the end of Moses' story. In Luke chapter 9, and actually any of the Gospels, you'll find this. This is not the last mountaintop that Moses was on. In the Gospels, we read the story of the Transfiguration. And it goes like this. About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up unto a mountain to pray. And he was praying. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men appeared. The prophet Elijah and Moses. Moses was there when Jesus was shown to the world of who he was. You see, Moses might not have gone into that promised land, but Moses made it to the promised land. Amen.