Why Are Your Hands In the Air?

Today I read about how Moses displeased God and missed out on his chance to enter the Promised Land. It's found in Numbers 20. See, the Israelites were complaining once again -- (they complained a lot during their time in the wilderness) that they didn't have anything to drink. They were thirsty in the desert. So God commanded Moses to give them water in a miraculous way. Moses was supposed to gather the people and speak to the rock and the water was supposed to pour out. Instead, Moses and Aaron gathered all of the people and said, "Listen you rebels! Must we bring you water from the rock?" Then Moses struck the rock twice and water poured out. But God was unhappy with Moses, because he had taken credit for God's miracle. He gathered all of the people as instructed, but instead of getting out of the way so that the people could see God's power, he took credit for it. I can just see Moses raising his arms and saying, "Take a look at this everybody!" Because he knows God is going to show up.

Now, I've never brought water from a rock before, but like Moses, it can be so easy to take credit for what God is doing in my life. It can be so easy to raise my arms and say, "Hey everybody, take a look at what I've done," instead of recognizing that any good thing I have accomplished has only been done through God's power. Everything that is good within me is a product of His grace to me.

I guess we can raise our arms to draw people's attention to ourselves as if to say, "Look at me!" Or we can raise our arms to God in recognition and thanksgiving for what He has done in us and through us, and we can say, "Thank you, Lord," -- drawing people's attention to Him.

My prayer is that I would never get in the way of God receiving the glory. . .