Numbers 11 Part B

Scripture Review
At this point, Moses was so frustrated with the children of Israel that he cried out to God using some strong words. He even asked God to take his life. His frustration arose from the people’s murmurings. The first lesson here is to make sure we do not give our leaders a hard time. Let’s ensure their labour over us is a joy and not grief.
That being said, Moses’ frustration in a way, was not strange. No man can bear their God given ministry alone. If you can handle that assignment all by yourself, it may not be what God has called you to do.

At the beginning of our assignment, we might find ourselves carrying most of the responsibilities alone. As the work increases, the burden gets too heavy for us. This is to be expected. No believer is meant to fulfil their God given assignment all by themselves. None of us is that powerful. Notice that God did not rebuke Moses for expressing his frustration. Rather in response, God provided him with burden bearers. Seventy men were selected who would share in Moses anointing.

Remember he already had 12 leaders, from each of the tribes. Now God raised up seventy more men to help him with the work. This foreshadows the ministry of Jesus. Our Lord started with 12 disciples, then as He increased His reach, He appointed seventy others to join in the work (Luke 9.1-2, 10.1-2). This number has been increasing since the early church, and today we have more and more believers carrying the anointing of God and sharing in the work of Jesus.

So the next question to ask ourselves is: are we happy or jealous when God uses other people around us? Let’s note Joshua’s reaction to those who prophesied in the camp. He asked Moses to stop them. This is similar to when the disciples told Jesus how they saw a man casting out demons in His name and stopped him (Luke 9.49-50). Our Lord’s response was. ‘Do not stop him.’  Lets go back to Moses’ response to Joshua and see how strikingly similar it with those of Christ. Moses did not stop those who prophesied away from where he was. Rather, he expressed his desire that the Lord would put His Spirit on all His people. That was such a display of maturity.

Today we are experiencing the fulfilment of those prophetic words spoken by Moses. Each of us has become a partaker of God’s Spirit, and a co-laborer in the Kingdom. Don’t get upset when others are doing the work of the ministry apart from you or differently from you (Romans 12.4-6). It is important that we appreciate the grace on other people as God raises and anoints them because no one person or ministry  can reach everyone. Many are still needed to do the Master’s work and cover the whole earth with the knowledge of Jesus as the waters cover the sea (Matthew 9.37-38). It’s a corporate commission, not a competition.

#Biblestudy #Numbers