Numbers 12:1-8 / Humility Prompts Intimacy
📖 Scripture
1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.
2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out.
5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward,
6 he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
✅ Scripture Summary
✅ Memory verse
✅ Reflection
No Need for Envy (12:1–3)
Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ own siblings, challenge Moses’s leadership. They do not challenge Moses because they think he is unfit to lead; at the root of their opposition is the prideful assumption that they should have the same influence and authority as Moses because they, too, have been God’s messengers. Among believers, there is a very real temptation to become envious of others to whom God has given gifts or a ministry we secretly desired. God gives His children different gifts and not always according to what we expect. He also assigns us different ways to serve in His kingdom and delights in rewarding us individually. When our focus is on obeying Him, envy loses its hold on us.
What opportunities to serve has God given you in this season? Thank Him for them and ask for grace to serve faithfully and joyfully.
A Great Need for Intimacy (12:4–8)
Moses had such an intimate relationship with God that God spoke to him face to face and plainly. Moses was aware that he would not be able to accomplish the monumental task of leading an entire nation without this closeness to the Almighty. But even those of us who do not have as monumental a task still need intimacy with God. Why? Because God has created us to be in communion with Him. Sin severed our connection with God and He went to great lengths, sacrificing His only Son, to restore it. Now that we can freely commune with God once more, let us live as we were created and take strength in a close relationship with our Creator and Father.
How strong is your desire to be in close relationship with God? What do you desire about that close relationship?
“Having intimacy with God means realizing that abundant life will never be found in another person.”
– Shana Schutte
✅ Prayer
✅ Essay
Humble Leadership
If anyone had reasons to be proud, Moses could certainly have made a good case for boasting. He was specifically chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Through Moses, God worked wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness. Moses alone among all his people could speak to the Lord face to face. But Moses did not let this special privilege go to his head. A leader needs to be humble. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” But Moses, though humble, was imperfect. There were times when his anger and exasperation with his people got the better of him. The ultimate example of humble leadership is Jesus. After all, who had a greater claim to prideful leadership than He who created all things? Yet He, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6–8). Jesus did not come to have others serve Him, even though He had every right to demand it. Instead, He came to serve others. He demonstrated it again and again, such as when He washed His disciples’ feet. His leadership is our example for how we are to lead others.
Written by James Eppley