True Leader of God

Numbers 11:16-30

I realize we have skipped around a lot in the 11th chapter of Numbers, but there are so many lessons to be learned that I don't want us to miss any of them! Today, I want us to look deep into the heart of Moses. I know we will see Jesus, but I hope we will see ourselves. If we don't, I hope we will want to change...

Moses was at a point in his ministry where he truly needed help. He took his requests to God and God gave him help. God gave Moses 70 leaders to help him share the burden of leading His people. When God put His Spirit on the 70 new leaders, they temporarily prophesied. 68 of the men were around the Tent, but for some reason, possibly because of ceremonially uncleanness, Eldad and Medad were not present. They were chosen to be part of the leadership, but they were in the camp. So, when God's Spirit came down they prophesied as well, and Joshua heard them.

Joshua had been Moses right-hand man since he was a boy. He was extremely loyal to Moses. When he heard these other men prophesying, he was afraid that Moses' authority might be threatened. Joshua even told Moses to "stop them"! This is when we see the true heart of a leader come forth. Moses tells Joshua that he wishes that God would put His Spirit on all of the people.

We must remember that during this time, the Holy Spirit came and went as He pleased. When we accept Christ, the Spirit indwells us always, but this was not the case for the children of Israel. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam had been the only ones that God had put His Spirit on thus far. Now God was giving His Spirit to 70 others. But, was Moses jealous? No.

Moses had no personal ambition of his own. He only had the ambition of the Father. Moses did not want to get in the way of God's work. How do you feel when someone else is used powerfully by God? Are you thrilled that God's work is being done or are you envious that He didn't use you or your church? Maybe the bigger question is: Are we about building God's kingdom or our own?

These are hard questions. We see the heart of Moses was to serve God's purposes. What are ours?