On Sundays, we’re studying the prayer life of Moses. This is the last one we’re looking at, and I thought everyone could get something from it.
Numbers 12
1 Then Miriam and
Aaron spoke against Moses (the
original Hebrew says that they started whispering behind his back) because of the Cushite
woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite
woman);
2 and they said,
"Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through
us as well?" (They are being
arrogant – “aren’t we just as important as Moses?”) And the LORD heard it.
3 (Now the man Moses
was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.)
Moses had spent his time in the wilderness learning to pray
and to depend on God. What is that
dependence and prayer except humility?
You are simply asking God to accomplish something you know you cannot
accomplish yourself!
4 Suddenly the LORD
said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of
meeting." So the three of them came out.
5 Then the LORD came
down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called
Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward,
6 He said,
"Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet
among you,
I, the LORD, shall
make Myself known to him in a vision.
I shall speak with
him in a dream.
There are many stories in the Old Testament about God
speaking to prophets in dreams and visions.
But look what God says next about Moses:
7 "Not so,
with My servant Moses,
He is faithful in all
My household;
8 With
him I speak mouth to mouth,
Even
openly, and not in dark sayings, (Wow! What
a relationship! Face to face with God!)
And he beholds the
form of the LORD.
Why then were you not
afraid
To speak against My servant, against Moses?"
They had seen Moses’ relationship with God. They had seen him do what God told him to do, and had seen God answer his prayers. They should have been afraid to speak against him!
There’s one thing we sure better learn from this passage,
and that’s the fact that God will stick up for people who have a great
relationship with Him! Don’t you protect
your children?
9 So the anger of the
LORD burned against them and He departed.
10 But
when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as
white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.
This one makes me a little nervous. What did Miriam do? Did she commit adultery, murder, steal, blaspheme? No! She simply spoke against Moses. She had something negative to say about one of God’s children. And what did she get? A virtual death sentence. We’ve studied leprosy before, but it was an incurable disease which rendered the victim a social outcast.
Maybe we should pay more attention to this verse now:
Ephesians 4:29
29 Let no
unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good
for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace
to those who hear.
Back
to Moses in Numbers 12…
11 Then Aaron said to
Moses, "Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we
have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned.
12 "Oh, do not
let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his
mother's womb!" (Yuck!)
13 Moses cried out to
the LORD, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!"
Here goes Moses again – going to the only Person who can solve the problem. Short and to the point, isn’t he?
14 But
the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she
not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside
the camp, and afterward she may be received again."
15 So Miriam was shut
up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until
Miriam was received again.
What did God do for Moses? Answered the prayer! Of course, He left Miriam as an outcast for 7 days, maybe to teach her to pray in the wilderness!
Moses had an unbelievable relationship with God. He and God spoke mouth to mouth, and had real conversations. There are two keys to Moses fabulous prayer life.
The word of God promises that we can have the same prayer life as Moses had, only better! We’ll look at that next time.