Fear No Fear

Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Heal her now, O God.”
Numbers 12:13 (emphasis added)

There are times that our actions open us up to consequences. That’s what happened with Miriam and Aaron. Miriam’s consequence happened immediately, but Aaron’s was delayed until he was no longer High Priest (Numbers 20:23-29). Miriam, however, was NOT the High Priest and did not have the temporary protection of that office. Instead, her actions opened her up to immediate consequence.

“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married an Ethiopian woman). They said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth.) The Lord spoke immediately to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: “The three of you come to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. The Lord said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house. With him I will speak face to face, openly and not in riddles, and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he departed. After the cloud had departed from above the tent, there was Miriam, leprous like snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and realized that she was leprous. So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned! Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb!” Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Heal her now, O God.” The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again”” (Numbers 12:1-14).

Notice two things. Their unguarded tongues took them outside the BLESSING of the Lord. Second, the Lord gave them a way to deal with it: repentance. Before the cross and GRACE being made available to us, there was a system of sacrificial covering. We had to be truly repentant and then do things – be separated, give offerings, arrange for sacrifices, etc – as part of the cleansing process. That is the system Jesus replaced – taking onto Himself the whole system so that we can be repentant and deal with Him instead of the system of sacrifices and offerings.

God has never removed the requirement for us to ACT. Bitterness, for example, is the root of so much suffering in our lives. We are commanded to forgive unequivocally so that nothing bad has opportunity to operate in our lives (Luke 6:37). Jesus told the crippled man not to sin so that other bad things (worse ones) would not have opportunity to enter his life (John 5:14). There are CONSEQUENCES for sin. Always. It is in JESUS that we can have those dealt with IF we are repentant. Not being truly repentant can cause effects and opportunities to linger – it isn’t a guarantee, it’s an opportunity and why would we want to give one?

We need to show humility and respect to the Lord. If HE says it is sin, then IT IS SIN. Period. There is a type of prayer in the bible (2 Chronicles 7:14) called ‘hitpalel’ prayer. It is a prayer of turning within and of seeking the face of God. It is the act of REPENTANCE which requires not only humility in prayer, but an actual change of behaviour. It means returning from the sinful thing/behaviour/thoughts to a study of the Word (the Will of the Father) and submitting to what we find there – regardless of how we FEEL about it.

In Miriam’s day, that meant undergoing the cleansing rituals/process to proclaim cleansing from disease (Leviticus 13-14). In Job’s day there was no system in place for dealing with these things. Job certainly could have used it. His fear and inability to trust in the Lord opened him up to consequences (Job 3:25-26). How much could he have been harassed if he trusted totally in the Lord? No way to tell. What we DO know is that he was constantly offering ‘just in case’ sacrifices to avoid penalty and he greatly feared that bad things would come upon him.

Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is a great gift of the Lord. Fear is a terrible gift from sin. When we have faith, we are trusting in the Lord regardless of what is around us (think of Jesus asleep in the boat or walking on the water – Matthew 8:23-27 & Matthew 14:22-23). Fear is when we look at anything other than the Lord and start to worry and be anxious and don’t have Him before our eyes, hearts, and minds (think of the disciples in that boat or Peter and his walking on the water, same verses). Fear is a great way to falter. Faith is the ONLY way to keep from stumbling (Psalm 91:9-12).

Job recognised that he had a lesson to learn (he learned a LOT and WE can learn a lot from what he went through). Job promised to be quiet and listen if God would instruct him (Job 6:24). He and his friends then proceed to talk for chapter after chapter. Eventually, he IS quiet and God DOES instruct and Job – this is the important part – DOES listen (Job 38-41). He needed wisdom and is shown the source of wisdom – the Lord.

We need wisdom to operate in our lives too. We don’t have a sacrificial system. We need to repent, but have no external framework to do it in. That is NOT a bad thing. The ONLY group of people that Jesus got angry with (in a righteous way) were the RELIGIOUS LEADERS. The ones who kept to the letter of the law in their actions, but had NOTHING inside (Matthew 23:27-28). They had a law to follow – and all the orders and commands that they ADDED (Matthew 23:2-4).

If we ASK for wisdom – truly desiring to understand – from the Lord, we will get it. “But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind” (James 1:5-6). We need to want it and to believe we’ll receive it. My son understands this principle. I recently overheard him telling his sister that if you believe it WILL happen. There was a certainty about asking/praying/faithing for something in the WORD in his voice. On this point he CANNOT be shaken. It was a nice moment to witness.

That wisdom combined with a firm grounding and continual reference in the Word, we will be able to clearly hear the Lord. One of the reasons Jesus sent us Holy Spirit is so that we can be reminded about everything in the Word that He has said and we have read (John 14:26). We need to get the Word in us so He can renew us to HIS way of thinking (Romans 12:2). When we are resting in Him and listening to what He has to say, we will hear when He has something to tell us about whether there is something we need to repent over or correct. The Lord will TELL us if there is a window to close or a door to shut.

The Lord’s BEST is instantaneous and complete healing. But He WILL meet us where we are. If we’re willing to let Him direct us, guide us, renew us, instruct us, and reveal to us what we can have in HIM, then there is literally nothing good that will be kept from us (Psalm 84:11). We WILL be SHALOM – nothing missing, nothing broken. Trust in HIM and let HIM direct your paths – whether they are mental, physical, spiritual, or relational (Proverbs 3:5-6). It is a promise that we can COUNT on.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Genesis 5:24

“Enoch walked with God, and then he disappeared because God took him away.” No one will argue that the Messiah is righteous (Jeremiah 23:5). He IS righteous. Enoch here is a type for Jesus. An example that the righteous (those who walk with God with consistency and purpose with all their heart) can bodily ascend to heaven if it is the will of God. It certainly isn’t the norm, but it was important to have as an example. The Jews needed to see that the Suffering Servant could ascend into heaven and return at the head of a triumphant army (Revelation 19:14-15). They needed to see that the two aspects of Messiah (offering and overcomer) could co-exist in the same person. This is EXACTLY what Jesus fulfilled in His life. “Then Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. Now during the blessing he departed and was taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:50-51). “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). Jesus did these things. He is the child who was caught up to heaven. He is the one who will rule the nations. He IS Messiah Saviour of the world. “So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne” (Revelation 12:5). There is NONE like Jesus. The Servant who is also Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b