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| Numbers 14:11-20 |
“Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness’”
(Numbers 14:15-16).
God was done with this rebellious group of Israelites. He had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt with major signs and wonders which ought to have sustained their faith. Instead they continued to test Him through their desert travels on the way to the Promised Land. Once there, they refused to obey to go up and possess it. In response God said to Moses, “I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they” (Numbers 14:12).
This seems like a pretty sweet deal for Moses. He would become the patriarch of the nation no longer known as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but as the descendants of Moses. Yet Moses, being humble man he was, did not consider this offer for a single moment. His first consideration was God’s reputation.
Moses instead asked the Lord God to use His great power to forgiveness instead of judgment. Here is a picture of a mediator, a chosen one, laying down his opportunity to see the multitude receive something they do not deserve – mercy. Moses knew God had power to destroy the entire nation in an instant. He also knew God had the power to forgive. Moses stood in as the sacrificial lamb, dying to self-promotion in order to raise up the undeserving who were already there.
He is the picture of Christ before us, who laid His position down when He chose to be born of a woman and come in the flesh (Philippians 2:6, 7). He laid His authority down when He submitted to the cross and died for our iniquities and for our forgiveness which we did not deserve nor could we have achieved on our own. Now, He calls us to count the cost, pick up our cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23).
Moses cared more for God’s reputation than for his own and in so doing saved an entire nation and the advancement of God’s kingdom plan. I wonder how my life might change if I spent more time concerned with God’s kingdom plan than my own plans. I wonder how this would affect the people around me. How about you? How would your life look different if you were more concerned with God’s reputation and kingdom plan than your own?
“Let nothing be done
through selfish ambition or conceit,
but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem others better than himself.
Let each of you look out
not only for his own interests,
but also for the interests of others”
(Philippians 2:3-4).
Jacquie Hoekstra is the author of Peter: A Life Transformed and This Servant’s Hands. Learn more about Jacquie and her books at jacquiehoekstra.com.