March 4 - Numbers 16:1-18:32

Good morning everyone,

There is a reason the book of Numbers is referred to as the book of murmuring. This morning we read that the grumblings were not exclusive to the masses of Israelites, nope, Korah a Levite has instigated some discontent among some of the the leaders, council members, and as a group they go to oppose Moses and Aaron. They accuse Moses and Aaron of taking on too much authority, and state that everyone in the congregation is holy, and that there is nothing special about Moses and Aaron. Making some unfair accusations against Moses, Korah believes he had as much right to lead as Moses did.

Moses just turns this over to the Lord. Then he tells Korah and all his supporters to come back tomorrow, at which time they would see what God thought about all this talk, talk. Well, what I am wondering is, what in the world was Korah thinking? Good grief, God personally chose Moses many years ago to do this job. Even after Moses himself pointed out to God that he wasn’t a good leader and that he was not an eloquent speaker God still wanted Moses; so now, does Kora really think he is going to go before God and God will say “Oh yeah Kora, what was I thinking? You are a pretty great guy are I probably should make you leader.”  I think not! I laugh at this! Not because of how silly Kora was but at the thought of how many times over the course of my life that I have thought; no, no, let me rephrase that, I KNEW at the time I was right about something only to find out how ridiculously wrong I was. 

One time, many, many, many years ago, while in a desperate search for some semblance and order in my life I pathetically pushed myself off on a church which I was brand new to. I was in a bad place mentally, and clearly spiritually as well, and thought “if only I could teach a Bible study then all would be better for me”. I believed I was entitled to this and they would be lucky to have me. (oh how muddled my thinking was!) Graciously they tried to tell me “no thank you” but instead of listening I pushed forward and purchased all of the curriculum myself, put out a separate bulletin on consecutive Sundays announcing when I would be having “my” study and stubbornly waited for a group of people to come and have me teach them, whether they wanted  it or not. I believed I knew better than God. It goes without saying it was a total disaster and while the people veered away from me like I was an escapee from the mental ward, the pastor lovingly called me to remind me how much God loves me. He, in his wisdom could see desperation in me that, at the time, I could not. Fortunately, God had a plan to use me to write a daily Year Through The Bible some 30 years down the road and didn’t have the earth open and swallow me up. Since then, there has been quite a few times I have thought “what was I thinking? Did I just think God was going to say ‘Oh yeah Pam, you are a pretty great gal and I probably should make you leader now.”?

As mere humans patience and humility is not what comes naturally to us, rather pride and selfishness. If we are going to endure under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or being provoked we are going to need to listen to and have faith in our Lord God, our Abba Father, and the choices He makes that effect our lives. We may not agree with our leaders, we may not even like them very much but it is no surprise to God that they are there. God has a plan and it is perfect so let’s be joyful in our part as we exercise our faith in God. Sound good?

I pray you all have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …