Numbers 12:6-8

New Living Translation

So why were you not afraid
    to criticize my servant, Moses?”

For Meditation

There is a comforting warmth in this scripture that resonates with me as a leader, but more importantly, as a child of God. It is a testament to obedience and a close relationship with the Lord and His resultant assured protection. It reassures us that God has our backs as His servants.

I have often wondered why the armor of God does not have a back covering but the story of Moses and his two siblings—Aaron and Miriam—sheds some light on it for me. The eloquent statement the story makes to His leaders and all His servants, is: “I have your back!”

It’s a story that brings a sense of peace, assuring us of God’s constant presence and His unwavering protection against those who oppose us when we obediently commit to His service. 

It all started with two related questions that sprang from the well of jealousy in Aaron and Miriam (Nu. 12:1-15). “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? … Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”

I have always wondered what they were thinking about when they engaged in that conversation. Why were they not content with what God had done in their lives because of their younger brother’s ministry? As God asked them, “Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Big brother Aaron and big sister Miriam had seen enough of God’s anointing and call upon the life of Moses. They had witnessed the miracles the Lord had wrought through him in Egypt, across the Red Sea, and through the wilderness sojourn to this point. Wasn’t all that enough to keep them humbled in dealing with him? Why the rebellion then?

The noxious sap of jealousy has a way of opening a fissure in our hearts to drop its ivy poison into the best of people. Once that is allowed, it festers surreptitiously until one day, it breaks out with all its manifestations. Aaron and Miriam couldn’t help coveting the people’s respect for Moses. In their open display of opposition to their younger sibling’s marriage to a Cushite woman, they revealed a deep-seated malady every Christian should guard against—jealousy. What they did not know was who they were attacking—the Lord Himself.

When we step away from living by the Spirit and settle for the gratification of the flesh, we open ourselves to its sinful nature, “… hatred, discord, jealousy … selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy” (Gal. 5:16, 20-21).

I love what the Bible says about Aaron and Miriam’s gossip:

“And the Lord heard this” (Nu. 12:2b).

Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t it interesting to know what happens when God’s children come under such malicious attack and baseless accusations? Why do you worry about the wind of jealousy blowing your way today? Should you spend good capital responding to them? Why speak when God, who knows the intent of human hearts, has heard it? Listen to what Romans 12:19 says:

“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 

Tomorrow, we will delve into three things the Lord testified about Moses in His rebuke to Aaron and Miriam—humility, faithfulness, and intimacy with God (Nu. 3, 7-8). But for today, remember what the Lord assures you, His protection even when you are unaware of the enemy’s attack on your character.

Shalom

Pray with Me:

I thank you, Lord our Protector. By your perfect knowledge, you rebuke my enemies and protect me from their sharp arrows. Thank you for having my back always. What an assurance of peace we have in you, Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord, amen.

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