Entry Fifteen, Moses Dealing with Criticism Part I

ENTRY FIFTEEN – FEBRUARY 7, 2008

15 – Moses Dealing with Criticism Part 1: Some Quail, a Queen and Quitters

Numbers 10-14

This entry covers two days of reading and covers topics such as GOD’S GUIDANCE, BEING CONTENT, LEARNING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPEAKING UP TO AND SPEAKING BADLY ABOUT LEADERS, DEALING WITH DISSENSION, HAVING AN “OF COURSE” FAITH, AND LEADERS STAYING RIGHTEOUS.

Numbers 10 The silver trumpets were ordered. These were different from the ram’s horns, called the Shofar, which were used later by Joshua. But no matter what the trumpets were made of, I know that when God calls for a meeting of his people, it was/is important!

Numbers 9 Moses was wise to ask Hobab, the seasoned local guide, to stay with them. This is another example of using each others’ talents to help the church. However, even though they had Hobab to lead them, the people still needed God’s guidance. Whether it was the cloud by day or fire by night, when God’s presence moved, the people moved. This is a great study of dependence on our heavenly Father. All the worldly wisdom on earth is no substitute for following God! Reminds me of the bumper sticker that says, “God is my co-pilot”.

Num 11 QUAIL - It is here that we see the beginning of dissension. The people had complained against God and Moses before, but somehow this time must have been worse, cause Moses took it very hard. The people were moaning about their hardships, and about only eating manna. They forgot how hard their lives had been during slavery, and only remembered the positive aspects of life in Egypt - before the bricks without straw, no doubt. Moses’ reaction, not surprisingly, was to finally get tired of leading these difficult people. I love what he says, “God, why must I lead these people? Did I give birth to them? Can’t I just die instead? I’d rather be dead than hang around these people with their accusations and lack of gratitude!” Almost every leader has felt like that at some time but of course, what makes Moses wonderful is that he didn’t really mean it…he was just “venting”, as they say, and he let God help him out (by appointing some helpers) and got back on track. When facing burnout, imitate Moses – cry out to God, be real, and get help! Remember, you are not actually in this alone, even though it feels like it sometimes! By the way, Moses didn’t see any way that his problem could be solved, but no problem is too big for God (who would have thought of miraculous quail?). Paul gives us similar advice when we are facing something big in Phil 4:4-7 –  “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Isn’t it interesting, by the way, that Moses had just established God’s unequivocal guidance in chapter 10, but in the very next chapter, he was doubting that God should have made him the leader? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it….

 Seriously, if you are a leader who is dealing with burnout, please talk to other leaders, hopefully more experienced ones, that you trust, of course. Feel free to email me if you are desperate!

Oh well, lesson one on dealing with criticism: don’t get into self-pity, don’t doubt God, and do get help from others!

Numbers 12 QUEEN - Now Miriam wasn’t exactly trying to be the queen, but it may have irked her that she was the one who originally risked her life to save baby Moses years earlier, and now her brothers were getting all the credit! IT IS EASY TO SIN WHEN WE FEEL UNAPPRECIATED!! I can totally imagine Miriam feeling that her opinion should be taken seriously as well, and how easy it would have been to want to win Aaron over to her side. Maybe she just didn’t like Moses’ new wife!  But she was still in sin. She grumbled against Moses' leadership. Aaron did as well, but somehow it must not have been as bad as hers, cause only Miriam was punished (at least as far as we are told.)  This is a great warning for all of us who are tempted to speak out negatively against our leaders. NOTE - speaking up TO leaders is different. If you need to put Matthew 18 into practice, please do so, and don't use the passage about Miriam to justify procrastinating.

So, lesson two on dealing with criticism: don’t pray for the people criticizing you to be struck with leprosy (even though it can be tempting), do deal with the criticism directly and with the help of others (since we are rarely objective about the people who are attacking us!) In Moses’ case, he had God helping him, but we don’t have the luxury to have God intervening IN PERSON, so we must go to those whom God has put in our lives for help.

NUMBERS 13 QUITTERS -  In the beginning of the Spying out the Land episode, we see Moses with faith and the Israelites with none! In Moses' mind, OF COURSE God would do what he promised. OF COURSE we should attack in Canaan, we already defeated Pharaoh, Og and Sihon. Moses had an OF COURSE faith.

Do you have an “OF COURSE” faith? Or are you like the Hebrews - “we see the benefits of entering Canaan and we know that God SAID he would help us, BUT…” Do you have a “BUT” kind of faith? What is your “BUT”? (Notice I spelled it as “but”,not “butt”.)  Moses had repented of his self-reliance; now the people were being self-reliant.

Caleb kept firm, as did Joshus - they had imitated Moses' “OF COURSE” faith.

NUMBERS 14 Again, there are complaints about returning to Egypt.

14:1 “That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?" 4 And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

Of course, it was a big mistake (back in verse 3) for the Israelites to use their children as an excuse for not putting God first (ahem, ahem):

Num14:31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But you-your bodies will fall in this desert.

Back in the early section of the chapter, Joshua and Caleb were scared - not for their lives, but for the people, because of their rebellion and unbelief. And once again, God spoke of destroying all the people and starting over from Moses. Tempting - but no one is perfect. No wonder God had Paul write this a few thousand years later - Rom 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."  Rebellion, even out of fear, is still a sin, because it is refusal to obey God.  Moses' heart is so big. He forgives but he also knows how to rebuke. And he had to suffer the consequences of his people's sins - he landed 40 years in the desert because of their unbelief!!

Sadly, the leaders were removed permanently.  Num14:36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it-37 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.

There are two insights for me here. First, when leaders don’t repent, God will remove them. Leaders must be righteous, and when they are not, they must at least be transparent. Part of being righteous means having faith and trusting God. When we as leaders no longer trust God, it is time for us to get out of the way. O God, help me to be a faithful, righteous, and transparent leader of your people, and to find new young people to care for the flock. Secondly, when people try to stop God’s church, God will also remove them. I have heard some say that this episode was the Old Testament equivalent of an “Open Forum”. I have seen many wonderful changes in our ICOC, but I haven’t heard anyone say that they felt the Open Forums were done in a Christ-like manner. Maybe there were some. I don’t know. But I haven’t heard of any. We know how the open forum in Numbers 14 ended – badly! Let’s make sure that we learn the lessons we need to learn from this sad section of Scripture! Amen. (Next entry Feb 9^th)

karenlouis@seachurches.org