It is often said that pride is the foundation of sin. It certainly may be the case that pride is expressed in every sin, or that pride motivates every sin. But the foundation of all sin is unbelief. We sin because believe wrong things—wrong things about ourselves, about the world, and most importantly, about God. In fact, what we believe dictates actions in general, both obedience and disobedience.
The best example is the first instance of sin. We would be right to say that pride played a role in Adam and Eve’s disobedience. However, the serpent started with what the woman believed about God. He asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). He then tempted her to doubt, saying, “You will not surely die…” (3:4). In other words, he tempted her to believe that God was at least withholding something good from her, which would make God selfish and stingy. At worst, he was making God out to be a liar. The woman believed the serpent instead of God, and she ate the fruit.
Another example is found in Numbers 20, where once again the people grumble against Moses and Aaron, saying “Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink” (Num. 20:4–5). The grumbling is breathtaking given the context. It comes on the heels of numerous occasions of Yahweh’s judgment—in some cases fatal—upon those standing against Moses.
The reader expects the familiar pattern of Moses interceding to avert this judgment. However, Yahweh immediately gives instructions to Moses regarding how to provide water for the people: “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle” (20:8).
The passage continues: “Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ‘Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?’ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock” (20:10–11).
If we’re not reading closely, we may miss the problem. Yahweh told Moses to speak to the rock, however, in his anger Moses struck the rock twice. Many of us would have let this slide, especially given the repeated nature of the Israelites' insulting treatment of Moses. Yet Yahweh had a different take. “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them’” (20:12).
Yahweh’s assessment is striking. He did not call it disobedience, which it was. He did not call it an outburst of anger, which it was. He did not call it a lack of self-control, which it was. All of those things were true. He did call it a failure to uphold Him as holy before the people, but indicated it was more than that. Yahweh emphasized the foundation of the action, which was unbelief. Moses failed to believe in the holiness of God.
This is incredible when we remind ourselves that Moses talked to God face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (Exo 33:11). If anyone should have had a stalwart belief in God leading to a lifestyle of awe it would have been Moses. That Moses of all people failed indicates how easily and quickly the fallen mind wanders from true belief.
When we sin it is a failure of belief, first and foremost. The person who indulges in illicit sexual behavior may fail to believe that in His presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psa 16:11). The person who fails to give generously to others may fail to believe that God will supply all his or her needs (Phil 4:19). The one who engages in gossip may fail to believe that death and life are in the power of the tongue (Pro 18:21). The preacher or teacher who treats his task with sinful casualness fails to believe that he will be judged with greater strictness (Jas 3:10). Teens who engage in secret activities forbidden by parents fail to believe that God sees all and that their sin will find them out (Psa 33:13; Num 32:23).
It matters what we believe about God. It matters what we believe about ourselves and the world. Why? We always live in accordance with what we believe. And so, it is of crucial important that our thinking is constantly confronted with the Scriptures, the only source of objective truth about God and His created world. We must read the Word, and as we do, ask the questions, “what does this teach about God and His world? How does my thinking need to be conformed to it?”
Now, if unbelief is a result of the fall and is wired into humans from their conception, how can we expect to ever walk in belief?
The end of Moses' story points us to the answer. Because of his unbelief, Moses failed to lead the people into the promised land (Deut 34). At his death, he stood on a mountain and looked into the land that his own sin prevented him from entering. In this way, Moses serves as a type of Christ. At Christ’s death, He was crucified on a mountain not for his own sin, but for the sins of others. Rising from the dead, He now has the authority to free us from unbelief and lead all who believe in Him into the new heavens and earth. We are able to believe the truth and live in light of it because of the work of a better Moses.
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