I do not have any conviction against hitting rocks and have never heard any pastor preach against hitting rocks. But for Moses, there was something about hitting this particular rock that caused God to accuse him of breaking faith with him and not treating him as holy in front of the children of Israel.

This reminds me that God asked very different acts of faith from different Bible characters. For Abraham, acting faithfully with God involved a willingness to sacrifice his son. For Moses, such an act would have been murder. For Daniel, faithfulness meant refusing the king’s meat and drink, but there is no evidence that the same was required for Joseph, another captive of a foreign government. Many people have hit rocks—a good number of those have hit rocks out of anger. However, there was a specific understanding about this particular rock between Moses and God that caused God to rebuke Moses for the unfaithfulness inherent in the action of hitting it.

Even if I had been standing by Moses that day in Meribah-kadesh, I probably wouldn’t have understood why hitting that rock caused him to lose the opportunity to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. But I guarantee that Moses understood. Moses was at a crossroads, and in that moment, he chose to turn his back on what he knew about God—an act of treachery that God strongly rebuked.

I think this marks the first key in unlocking our personal problems with faith. Acts of faith, the practical steps that result from confidence in God’s working in our lives, stem from a relationship with God that is real and personal. I have talked with many women who, deep down in that private inner place that only they and God know about, are afraid of the kind of personal relationship with God that might result in him requiring something special from them. They would rather not know God that well. Are you there? Do you psychologically hide from God, singing the alphabet song with your fingers in your ears in an effort to avoid hearing that still, small voice that may call you to take a step of—gasp—faith? If so, would you acknowledge with me that this is a serious problem?

Do you find it disturbing to read about the link between a lack of faith and sin? Would you rather think of your lack of faith as a weakness? Personally, it’s easier for me to think that it is just a natural reaction to doubt God when circumstances look bleak; but to call it sin? That seems awfully harsh. And yet, that’s exactly what God calls it; he even calls it treachery—sin with an accompanying stab in the back.

Unfaithfulness in the New Testament

Christ uses the phrase “you of little faith” repeatedly in the New Testament. In our quest to understand faith, it would be wise for us to consider each of the situations where Christ described someone as having “little faith.” The word Christ uses is oligopistos,² meaning “of little faith” or “trusting too little.” It comes from oligos, meaning simply “little,” “small,” or “few,” and pistos, whose meaning deserves consideration. Between the King James Version and the New American Standard Version, pistos is translated “assurance,”