Written by Elesa Goad Mason, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Texas
When I think of faithfulness and loyalty, the first picture in my mind is a dog: a being that keeps coming back regardless of how it’s loved or treated, that is loyal and protective even at the risk of its own peril. I would like to think that my beloved pets will be there with me, sharing in our eternal home.
In the Bible there are many people who were faithful and loyal to God. Some who are lesser known and showed great faith to the Lord, even if only to touch His garment, are the Roman officer who begged for his daughter’s life (Matt. 8:5-13), the woman in the crowd who desperately had to touch His robe (Mark 5:25-34), and finally the persistent Gentile woman pleading for her daughter’s sanity (Matt. 15:21-28).
One of the most famously loyal people in the Bible, of course, is Jesus Himself. There were many other great ones including Abraham, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Ruth, whose loyalty took the path of greatest resistance (Ruth 1:12-13). My favorite though is Moses, the only character the Bible described as a “friend of God” (Ex. 33:11 ESV). I can only imagine what it would feel like to be so close to God that He considered me His friend.
When Moses was 40, his journey of faithfulness took an abrupt turn when he killed an Egyptian soldier (Ex 2:11-15). He spent the following 40 years building what he thought was his life as a shepherd in the desert of Midian. Things certainly changed when he was 80 years old and encountered God in a burning bush. I don’t know about you, but if I were 80 and had this massive ask from God like Moses did, I’d be wondering what took Him so long to give me a call!
If nothing else, Moses trusted God so deeply that he left the throne of Egypt to become a lowly servant and shepherd in the desert. In that moment, God saw his faith and groomed him to be one of the most important men in the Old Testament!
God and Moses had a very faithful and loyal relationship. His exciting life has been the subject of many Bible class stories taught for generations. Moses did everything God asked him to, and he did it well. In turn, God gave Moses everything he needed to accomplish what He asked. Throughout all the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, God provided what the people needed so they would believe Moses and put their faith and hope in the One True God.
Having such a close relationship with God had to have been overwhelming. Imagine being able to hear the voice of God and have His glory literally pass before you – so close that God would have to lift you into the cleft of a rock to protect you from dying should you see his face (Ex. 33:18-20). Moses was a pinnacle of faithfulness and loyalty that was built on the Firm Foundation, which is later revealed to us in the bodily form of Jesus Christ. It is in Him that we are to put all our loyalty and faith.
To have a solid faith as Moses did is what we should strive for. But sometimes faithfulness isn’t as easy as we might think, even for Moses.
Numbers 20 tells the story of God providing water through Moses to an ungrateful people. Moses struck the rock twice with his staff instead of speaking to it as God commanded and told the people that we will provide this water. God was so angry at Moses and Aaron that He told them they would never enter the Promised Land with the Israelites. That seems to me to be quite a rough punishment for such a technical slip.
However, by saying “we,” not only did Moses fail to teach the Israelites about God’s power, but he minimized God’s strength by striking the rock. I don’t believe God felt Moses had lost his faith in Him. But He is a jealous God (Ex. 34:14) and will not tolerate anything less than our total conviction. Moses broke faith with God and his lack of humility kept him out of the Promised Land. How many “Promised Lands” do we miss out on due to our lack of humility?
Even though Moses couldn’t cross over, God’s grace showed His faithfulness to Moses when He allowed him to see the land and later, I’m certain, welcomed him home with great love. Deuteronomy 34 tells us God himself buried Moses in the land of Moab.
What can we learn from this? When we fall in love with who we are or what we can do instead of what God has given us or what only He can do, we break faith and fail to acknowledge everything God is. At those moments when God says no because our faith fails us, and it will, His eternal grace says yes!
