Moses - Servant of God - The Meekest Man in All the Earth
13 - God’s Faithful Servant
The children of Israel camped near Mount Sinai for one year, and it was there that God gave them His law and instructions for making the Tent of Meeting or tabernacle. Under Moses' godly leadership everything was completed just as God had commanded, and at the end of that year they carried on their journey to the Promised Land. It was a journey that would eventually take them thirty-eight more years before they arrived at the plains of Moab and the borders of Canaan. The journey took so long because of the people's unbelief, disobedience and constant complaining against God and against His servant Moses.
There are very important and practical lessons for Christians to discover from the experiences of the children of Israel. When we first trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, we commenced a spiritual journey through the wilderness of this world, and by faith we accepted His authority and the leadership. The many and inevitable trials and difficulties Israel encountered may also be the experiences that believers face today. We, like them, may suffer from enemies who try to hinder our journey and prevent us making progress in our walk with the Lord.
On several occasions during their journey there were those among their own ranks who stirred up dissension and caused the people to doubt or to disobey the Lord. This was the enemy within. Christian too have enemies like this and they are perhaps the most dangerous of all, causing us to waver in our faith or to take some path that would lead us away from our God. However, like the children of Israel, we have a caring and ever loving God and heavenly Father. Because of this we are discovering every day that His grace is abundant and never fails us. We are assured that all the resources for living the Christian life and facing up to the enemies we encounter are to be found in Christ our Saviour and Lord.
It has been well said that we need to learn from the mistakes that God's people made as they journeyed through the desert to the Promised Land. We need to learn from their mistakes and endeavour not to repeat them. We have the Old Testament record of all that happened to them as examples to us and to show us how God dealt with His ancient people. The apostle Paul, writing to the believers in Corinth touches on this in chapter 10 of his first letter. In verse 6 he says, "Now these things occurred as examples, or types, to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did." In Romans chapter 15 verse 4 he says, "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
The children of Israel also had with them at all times the visible symbols of God's presence. By day the pillar of cloud, and by night the pillar of fire, guided them on their journey. But besides this, the Ark of the Covenant was carried before them as they marched. By this they were reminded of God's law for them as His chosen people and of His promise to meet with Moses there and give him commands for the people. You can read about this in Exodus chapter 25 verses 10 to 22. Thus equipped they were able to set out able to face any enemy and any eventuality.
Let us remember that we also journey through this life with God's precious promises before us. Peter reminds us of this in first Peter chapter 1 verses 3 and 4:
"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
We have, too, the promise of His continual presence through His Holy Spirit who is in us as believers: Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14:
"Having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory."
Sometimes our trials come from those closest to us. Moses' leadership was often questioned and criticised by the people in general but there came a time when the criticism came from within His own family. Moses' brother and sister, Aaron the High Priest and Miriam, questioned his leadership and wanted to share it. Aaron said, "Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn't He also spoken through us?" When Moses learned of this he did not try to vindicate himself, as perhaps many of us would, but he trusted in God who had made him the leader of Israel. We read in Numbers chapter 12 verses 2 and 3, "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." What a commendation that was! What a lesson for us when we are opposed, especially by those of our own families. A lesson that we should not retaliate or seek to justify ourselves, but that we should trust in the Lord to vindicate us, just as Moses did.
God could not ignore this challenge against the authority of Moses. He commanded Moses, Aaron and Miriam to come out to the Tent of Meeting. There He spoke directly to Aaron and to Miriam showing them that it was Moses, and Moses alone, whom He had chosen to be His servant and the one through whom He would speak to the people. God said that there was no one else like Moses. He said, "With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord." Then came this piercing question, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
Here, then, was a very serious situation. Not only were Aaron and Miriam questioning Moses' authority, they were in effect questioning God. We read that "the anger of God burned against them" and Miriam was struck down with leprosy. Aaron was horrified by what he saw and admitted that they had both sinned foolishly. Moses cried out to the Lord for his sister, and the Lord promised that after seven days she would be healed and could be brought back into the camp.
The lesson we should take from this is that we must always keep in mind that those whom God appoints to be leaders are to be respected. Elders and pastors among his people are to be supported and prayed for as they carry out their often difficult responsibilities. More harm can be done to the work of the Lord by those within the church who are not faithful to their God appointed leadership than by the opposition of those without. Earlier in this series looking at the life of Moses we discovered that Moses had a unique relationship with God. In Psalm 103 verse 7 we are told that God "made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the children of Israel." A Christian writer commenting on this verse wrote, "The Israelites got to see what God did, but Moses understood why He did it." Moses' appreciation of God was very real. He had an extensive knowledge of the Lord that he had acquired partly through direct revelation and partly by personal experience. God clearly condescended to reveal Himself to His servant in a very intimate way. Because of this relationship, Moses understood that God was the God of truth whose word can be trusted. He knew Him as the God of Anger who cannot ignore sin, but deals with it justly. Moses knew God to be the God of forgiveness who constantly shows His mercy and grace to those who repent of their sins. He knew, too, through his experiences in leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, that God is the God of great power. All through his life he was learning about God. The gaining of this knowledge was the secret of Moses' success in leading God's people.
In the light of Moses' example, we need to ask ourselves this question: "Are we seeking daily to get to know the Lord our God more and more?" We do this by reading His Word each day and by trusting Him in every situation in which we find ourselves. So, like Moses, we will build a wonderful relationship with the Lord by revelation and by experience.
As we near the end of Moses' story we need to see that, like all men, he was not perfect You will remember that at the beginning of his story he killed an Egyptian thinking that in that way he might do something to help his people. Now, towards the end of his life we find an occasion when this normally patient man lost his patience with the people. This happened at a place called Meribah which actually means quarrelling. The people complained that they had no water so Moses and Aaron came before the Lord. The Lord gave Moses clear instructions as to what he should do, but Moses, because he had lost patience with the people, acted in anger and did something different. God in His grace still supplied the people with the water they needed, but, because of his disobedience and rash words, Moses was denied the privilege of leading the people into the Promised Land of Canaan. You can read about this in Numbers chapter 20 verses 1 to 13. Moses in humility accepted God's sovereignty. Joshua had already become Moses' "right hand man" and commander of Israel's army, and he was God's choice to succeed Moses as leader of the people. Moses' main concern was that God's people would be led by a godly leader.
We read the account of Moses' death and the succession of Joshua to the leadership in Deuteronomy chapter 34. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old and his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone when he died. He was buried on Mount Nebo in the land of Moab on the borders of Canaan. The inference is that he was buried by the tender hand of God Himself. Moses died neither of old age or sickness, but when it was God's will for it to happen. He died when his work was finished. No better conclusion to Moses' story can be found than the words of Deuteronomy chapter 34 verses 10 and 11:
"Since then, no prophet has arisen like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt - to Pharaoh and all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."
So ends our study of this great, faithful and amazing man of God, servant of Jehovah. The only man who met God face to face.