From Numbers 16
One day certain religious and prominent
leaders incited a rebellion against God’s appointed leader, Moses. They united
and said, “You have gone too far! We all matter, but you think you’re superior
to us.
When Moses heard what they were saying,
he fell face down on the ground. Not to bow to the protesters, but
to humble himself before God and listen. He heard, and said:
Tomorrow
morning the Lord will show us who belongs to Him and who is holy. The Lord will
allow only those whom He selects to enter His own presence…
Someday,
maybe before you finish this sentence, God will do the same. In the twinkling of
an eye, He will choose those who are His, and they will enter His own presence.
Moses
went on to tell them:
Prepare
your incense burners. Light fires in them tomorrow, and burn incense before the
Lord. Then we will see whom the Lord chooses. You are the ones who have gone
too far!
Two
hundred and fifty men had stepped beyond their authority and started acting
like priests, burning incense, which was not within their authority to do.
Nevertheless, Moses told them to go ahead, light your fires, do what you think
will get you noticed, but in the end, the Lord will reveal those who are His.
Like rioters looting and burning, they say they’re doing it for a just cause,
but down inside, they are rebelling against God. Which is what Moses said to
them:
The Lord is the one you and your followers are
really revolting against!
Then
Moses called for some of the leaders, but they said,
We refuse
to come before you! Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land
flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness, and that you
now treat us like your subjects? What’s
more, you haven’t brought us into another land flowing with milk and honey. You
haven’t given us a new homeland with fields and vineyards…
They still had a slave mentality. They were
unwilling to take personal responsibility and discuss the issues. They just
wanted to complain that all their problems were someone else’s fault. Like children
without understanding, just wanting their own way. Me. Me. Me. I matter more
than you. Folks like that can't be pleased. Give them the best economy in the world, put them in the best country in the world, and they'll just scream somebody didn't treat them right. They're in shackles and chains of their own making.
God heard
the people complaining against His leaders and said to Moses:
“Get away from all these people so that I may
instantly destroy them!”
But Moses
and his brother Aaron fell face down on the ground and interceded for the
people.
It’s
still the same. God’s people intercede and save the very people that complain
against them. Like soldiers defend folks who ridicule them. Like police serve
and protect the very people who spit on them and riot against them.
God listened
to Moses and told him what to tell the people:
“Quick!”
he told the people. “Get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t
touch anything that belongs to them. If you do, you will be destroyed for their
sins.”
Moses
told them to depart from evil. Get away from the wicked ones. Today, isn’t the
world getting more and more polarized? The grey area, the neutral zone, is getting
smaller and smaller. There’s a call to choose you this day who you will serve.
Next, it gets real interesting. Moses told
those who'd complained against him, that they’d know the Lord had sent him…
…if the
Lord does something entirely new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows
them and all their belongings, and they go down alive into the grave, then you
will know that these men have shown contempt for the Lord.”
He had
hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath
them. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their
households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything
they owned. So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their
belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished...
That is the reason, this has been written. Because, it may sound
crazy, but for several days in a row, I’ve seen this happen—the earth opening
up and swallowing people.
But, there's more:
…fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up
the 250 men who were offering incense.
Wow. What
a wake-up call. Earth opening, fire falling. More eye opening than back to back worldwide plague and riot.
So,
after all that, the very next day, the people woke up and what do you think they
did? Go to church? Repent? Tell Moses and God they were sorry? That would've been the
right thing, but instead they complained, again. Blamed Trump…I mean, they
blamed Moses. Believe it or not, even after all that they started to protest again,
saying:
“You have killed the Lord’s people!”
God heard
the people too…and He was ticked.
“Get away
from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!”
Moses and
Aaron fell face down on the ground, again. They interceded, again.
But before their intercession could stand between the living and the dead, a plague
like the invisible enemy on steroids swept the people and 14,700 people were
dead.
All of
this—the earth swallowing, the fire devouring, the plague sweeping—was the
result of leaders stirring up the people, telling them they weren’t being
treated right.
Let's pray:
Lord, we're a mess. We've sinned. Help us to repent. To change, not just say words, but fall on our face like Moses with humble repentant hearts. Please forgive. We need You. Help us to keep our eyes on You, ever ready for Your return. We know it's not Your will any should perish, so, we invite you to saturate us with Your love, Your presence, so much that Your perfect peace radiates from us. You know, the world needs Your peace in a big way, right now. We rest in You, Lord. Thank you. Come quickly Lord Jesus.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
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