Title: Numbers 12:1-16
Contents
<Text> Numbers 12:1-16 <Hymns> Chapter 310 “Oh, by the grace of God”
The Israelites who left Egypt are now walking in the wilderness. Their place of life is in the middle of the wilderness. A journey in the wilderness is not a romantic journey, nor a mere picnic. The journey in the wilderness is where there is a hard and fierce struggle in life where human instincts are inevitably exposed. In other words, life in the wilderness is the limit and pain.
As I said in the last time, the dead end of the instinct that cries out to eat meat, the limit of the emotions that constantly pour out resentment and lamentation, and the limit of the level of greed that can only lead to disaster, is the place where the limit bursts out without filtration. Now Moses and the people of Israel are standing in the middle of the wilderness.
In today's text, there is the pain of relationships in that wilderness. Miriam and Aaron accuse Moses of marrying a Cushite woman. This is not a mere slander, but the question, “Did the Lord only speak with Moses?” (verse 2). Does it mean that there were many things that I didn't like? Anyway, Moses is silent about it.
Rather, after calling all three of them, God defends Moses and confirms Moses' loyalty and superior position (verses 6-8). And God is angry with those who try to ignore the authority of the leader, saying, “Why are you not afraid to slander my servant Moses?” So Miriam soon got leprosy (verses 9-10). Aaron immediately repented, and Moses opened his mouth after breaking the long silence. “Heal him, please, O God” (verse 11). Today's text evaluates Moses like this. “This man Moses was more meek than all men on the face of the earth” (verse 3).
So, what message is God trying to convey to us through today's text?
'Learn Moses' meekness. Do not repay evil for evil like Moses, but overcome evil with good. Let's imitate Moses' loyalty.' This is true, and it is certainly a gracious message. However, the Bible is not a book of morals or a book of great men. So, to view the main character of today's text as Moses, there is something lacking in Moses' meekness and loyalty. The messages 'Let's not slander like Miriam and Aaron' and 'Let's not challenge authority' are also disappointing, aren't they?
Because the main character of today's text is God. Just imagine.
Who is leading the people of Israel in the midst of the wilderness, where they have no choice but to face their instincts, greed, and moral and religious limitations and pain?
do you know no. Impossible. This is Moses, who struggled to eat because he said he couldn't. Moses, who has reached the limit of his ambition, passion, ability, and ability, is weak when he is weak.
Look at Aaron and Miriam of the leader group acting as Moses' right and left arms. Aren't you making envy and slander right now? This is the level and ability of the leadership that is leading the people of the Exodus. What kind of power can the Israelites lead out of that barren wilderness? no. Absolutely not. To know how to do something is to slander others, and to do things that deserve God's wrath.
Right now, in the midst of the wilderness, there is only one God who is dragging and dragging the people who are suffering from low limits and pain. God breathes with them in the midst of the wilderness, and lives among them and leads them. Today's text is telling us that.
Picture the picture of today's text in your head. There are people who feel sorry for Moses, who was suffering from slander. God. God was listening to all their slander. God calls these three people. Like the students who were called to the school office, he protests against Moses one by one to those who are lowering their heads, and touches them with tender hands.
In other words, God is living and breathing together in the midst of that wilderness, in the midst of a life struggling with limitations and pain. This is the living, intervening, and intervening God of God. This is today's message.
We are always easy to forget. Stand in the middle of the wilderness. No, isn't the midst of our lives the midst of the wilderness? What do you see bigger? Isn't this the visible reality? It's a miserable day-to-day life that I have to live with. In this fierce field of life where I have no choice but to face the limits of my instincts, my body, my emotions, and my faith. In the midst of it, we are amazed at the weight and difficulty of that reality. I'm afraid. Weary and collapse, we lose the power to stand up.
But, dear friend, there is something we must not forget.
In the middle of our life like the wilderness, I feel like I'm alone in the cold, but I feel like I'm groaning alone, you know? It means that God is breathing right next to you. The invisible One is holding our frozen hand. He intervenes in our pitch-black lives. You are interfering. God lives a life like this wilderness with us.
"I will be with you in your life like the wilderness. I will be with you anytime, anywhere." Isn't that powerful expression, the expression that God poured out all of Himself into 'Immanuel' (Matthew 1:23), the coming of Jesus Christ? God Emmanuel is walking with us who are living in the middle of the wilderness today.
Teacher,
Don't be surprised that God is invisible. Let us not be afraid of the emptiness and futility of the wilderness. Let us not shrink from the absence of the wilderness and the depth of darkness. Do not be discouraged by the countless words that stab and slander me in the midst of a surprisingly noisy wilderness.
It is true that the actual wilderness looks bigger, and it is also true that it is overpowering and overwhelming. Don't lose heart though.
Moses was able to be meek, not because of Moses' amazing character, but because the living God came to Moses' life and touched his life. Moses was able to be loyal, not because of his faithful and outstanding faith, but because God, who lives by our side, took hold of him and led him away.
That God lives with us today, now, and here.
Faith is not to see only the vastness of the visible wilderness, but to open your eyes to the invisible God. Now we have started walking in the wilderness of 2012. Let's not forget that we started walking with God, not alone.
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
[Prayer]
Heavenly Father,
We often encounter limitations and pains in the midst of life. Sometimes I groan, sometimes I get angry, and sometimes I feel like I'm going to stop breathing because of the despondency. But please remember. It means that we are never walking alone on the journey of life. Let us know that God is Emmanuel in the midst of our lives, and He is holding us and guiding us. Remember that the God who intervened and intervened in the lives of the people of Israel, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam is my God, and let 2012 be us walking with you. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.