Bible Heros: Miriam part 2
Miriam 2
Have you ever felt that you have been in the testing of God?
Or like you are being disciplined by Him?
As we discussed last week Miriam was influential, fierce, faith filled, a godly leader and prophet.
But guess what? Like most great leaders and prophets of God she was also disciplined by God… uh oh!
Today Miriam teaches us that no one called and who responds to God’s will escapes His dealings.
Miriam was sent by God and although we do not read of her exploits to the level of Moses and Aaron we can assume that she held high esteem with the people and with God. God said in Micah 6:4 “I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.” So we can see she had a very important role as leader which was no small thing. She also however experienced the discipline of God.
The greater the external commission the deeper the internal submission must be
In Numbers 12 we read of one such example of the dealings of God in Miriam’s life. Miriam and Aaron declare in response to Moses marrying a Cushite woman “Has the Lord only spoken through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”
Mmm what does that sound like to you? Little bit of stinky pride hey? The consequence of the entire account is that God strikes Miriam with leprosy and she is therefore cast out of the Israel community for 7 days and none of the community moved on until Miriam was restored.
Pride always comes before a fall and Miriam was no exception. You and I are no exception either.
Perhaps she was thinking back to how God used her to save Moses? “Like, I have been used to save your skin, to lead your life into freedom. I have been used by God before to cover you and I am still in that place of leadership now.”
Pride says -God will use me the way I think God should use me
Perhaps she was thinking back on how God had used her over and again in the past and was confident he would use her in the exact same way?
But, yeah – she was wrong.
Indeed God had used her and still had a plan for her BUT, God was doing a new thing.
God had plans in place that Miriam did not know of and Miriam paid the price of her familiarity and lack of a teachable spirit. The community also paid the price because they did not move until Miriam came back into the community.
So, what can we learn from all this?
Miriam had an extraordinary life being used of God and in the process also at times she was corrected. I think that as women with the call of God on our lives we also need to be wary of becoming familiar with the presence and ways of God. We have heard him speak, we have walked with him and seen how he has moved in the past but must guard our heart in our present from becoming prideful. If we don’t we might miss what God is wanting to do in the now.
We can miss the NOW word of God because of a familiarity of His presence
As we move forward in the plans of God we can also be tempted to move away from having a teachable spirit. And guess what? When this happens God will deal with us. Because like Miriam our lack of humility doesn’t just affect us but it also has consequences over those that we have influence over. When we stop moving in the flow of the Holy Spirit we in turn can stunt the movement of those we lead and are called to impact for Christ. And that matters to God too.
Take heart though, he disciplines those that HE LOVES!
Because HE LOVES US he will deal with our character flaws if we let him. “My child, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his daughter." Heb 12:5-6
Be open to the dealings of God as you outwork His purposes in your spheres of influence. Ask him if there is anything he wants to deal with in you and give some room and time to listen to what He says. If He shows you an area that is out of line simply and with humility receive his correction and empowerment to change.
It’s all good and all part of the Christian transformational journey that we all share.