Facedown

Posted by Lisa Laree at Beer Lahai Roi

This is not a perfectly new revelation, but for various reasons I picked up my Bible during my 30 minutes in the sanctuary today and went back and did a little review.

Moses is really one of the most amazing characters in the Bible.  He was put in charge of a whole bunch of folks who thought he was great when things were going good and then thought everything was his fault when things weren't...even when the problems were the clear results of their own rebellion.

If anyone had justification to get angry at folks and tell them a thing or two, it was Moses.  On more than one occasion, he was misjudged, criticized, accused, threatened...and, with one notable exception, he did not retaliate at all.

Not at all.  Even when those closest to him complained about him.

Do you know what he did?

In Numbers 12, Aaron and Miriam complain against their brother and fall under judgement...and Moses cried to God on Miriam's behalf; with no hint of bitterness or retaliation.

In Numbers 14, when the people were so dismayed at the report of the spies from Canaan that they revolted and wanted to select a new leader and go back to Egypt, '...Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the assembly...' (v. 5; all verses today NKJV)

In Numbers 16,  Korah and his posse confronted Moses over, of all things, tassels on their garments, saying, 'You have gone too far...why do you exalt yourself?' and we find in verse 4, 'So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face.'

When it was time to deal with those folks,  several of them basically told Moses they were not going to come and talk to him because he had failed to do what they had left Egypt expecting.  Moses got angry, but he did not reply to them or defend himself...he took his case to God for God to deal with it (vs. 15).

Over and over again, as I have studied Moses in the past, I have been amazed at how he handled some pretty malicious dealings.  He did not try to defend or explain himself.  He let God be his vindication.

That's really hard, you know.  When there is conflict, when there is misunderstanding or misjudgement or even just a sharp difference of opinion, our human nature is to defend, to explain, to put the other person in their place, to make them acknowledge  or validate our position or viewpoint or reasoning.

But that's the way the world does things.

Do not be conformed to this world...  (Rom 12:2a). 

Pretty much -- if it's the way the world, the old nature would handle it, that's the wrong way.

 But the verse I ended up on is the one that gave me instructions:

 Exodus14:14 -- The LORD will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.