“You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As , he 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 their livestock.” (Numbers 20:8)
Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. (John 2:15)
Have you ever made anything? I mean anything. It could be a meal or a batch of cookies. It could be crocheting a blanket or making a birdhouse. All of these things have one thing in common… a list of materials.
Anytime you start a project, you generally start with a list of materials you’ll need to make your project. Unless you’re MacGyver, then you can just look around the room and make a radio from a pocket knife, a paperclip, and some string! (And I just lost everyone who grew up after the ’80’s! LOL)
I love this story about Jesus making a whip. He made a whip. That means He had to think about what He needed, buy the materials, and sit down and take the time to put it together. Jesus methodically, meticulously, with forethought, and on purpose made a whip. Why? To drive out of temple what didn’t belong there.
Sweet, patient, kind, loving, long-suffering, wonderful Jesus made a whip, went into the temple, and used the whip he made to drive out of it what didn’t belong there. (Now, I doubt he used the whip on the people…the whip was likely for the animals. But he did flip tables over and force them to leave. He upended everything they were trying to do in the temple.)
He wasn’t quiet about it. In fact, the disciples remembered what the prophets had said about Him. “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” They didn’t belong there, and Jesus wanted them out, and there was a passionate display as He accomplished that goal. Jesus made a whip and used it. (I’m repeating myself on purpose. Trust me…I’m going somewhere with this.) 🙂
From the beginning of time, God has used Words to bring His will to pass in this earth. In fact, the whole earth and everything we see (and even things we don’t see) were made with words. God has always intended for our words to carry power and to accomplish His will in the earth.
In Numbers 20, we see that He told Moses to speak to the rock for water to flow out from it. He wanted to show the entire nation of Israel the power their words could hold. Sadly, Moses didn’t obey, and if you read the whole story, you’ll see that this very act is what kept him out of the Promised Land. He didn’t get the promise because He didn’t speak to the rock. And God makes it even more specific. He said, “Because you didn’t trust Me enough, you will not enter into the land I promised.”
Now, you are probably wondering what Moses speaking to a rock has anything to do with Jesus making a whip. I’m so glad you asked. I just want to give you a visual, because we have a “whip” to make too.
He has intended that our words would bring things into our lives and that our words would drive things out of our lives.
And this is what He has been showing me the past couple of months…what He’s been dealing with me about. Where is my whip?
We have something we’ve been believing for for years….years! It doesn’t belong in my life. It’s something that is opposite of what God’s Word says my life should look like. Do you have anything like that? It could be sickness. It could be depression. It could be oppression of some sort. It could be debt. It could be…..anything that is opposite of His promises.
Jesus made a whip and drove out what didn’t belong. Now, He made His whip from leather strips. I make my whip with His promises. Jesus wasn’t quiet about it. He was driven. He was meticulous. He was passionate. He was consumed. Me…not so much.
Oh sure, sometimes I am. But honestly, sometimes I’m tired of speaking. Sometimes I’m tired of driving. Sometimes I just sit back and relax and put up with it in my life and actually get lazy, and I back off the promise.
It’s not just a confession thing…it’s a TRUST thing. What if Moses had trusted Him enough to speak? He would have gotten to walk into the Promised Land!
Our words lined up with His Word shows that we trust His Word more than what we see. When do we stop driving? When are we supposed to stop speaking? Not until faith becomes sight. Not until that thing is gone.
“But it’s taking so long! Surely if this was going to work, it would be gone by now.” We think these thoughts and let them pull us away from trusting His Word…from speaking His Word…from using our whip. It’s not that He lets go…it’s that we let go.
He uses our Words as a sign of our trust, and that is what enables Him to work in our lives. Let’s not be like Moses who didn’t get the promise because he didn’t trust Him enough to speak. Let’s speak and keep on speaking until we see faith become sight. Let’s make our whip out of the Word of God and drive out anything that doesn’t belong!