This week we are in year 2 of being in the wilderness. The work in the Tabernacle has just began. We start with the Lamp-stand being Lit. Then the Levites are dedicated for service in the Tabernacle. The 2nd Passover is celebrated in the wilderness at Mt Sinai. Six days prior Nadab, and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord and they were burned alive. The men who carried them out were ceremonially unclean and were not able to attend the Passover. They go to Moses and ask how they can participate. Moses goes to God and asks on their behalf. God says 30 days from now they can celebrate Pesach Sheni the Second Passover. If someone misses the 1st Passover they are required to honor the 2nd if they don’t they will be cut off.
We are then given the description of how the fiery cloud would move and that would show the Children of Israel when they were to move to another location. We are then told about the 2 silver trumpets and what it means when it is blown. Then on the 2nd year on the 20th day of the second month the people moved from Mt Sinai. After the move the people begin to complain about the hardship. God heard the complaints and send a fire to kill those on the outskirts of the camp. The people cried out and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire stopped.
Next the foreign rabble began to complain about the Manna. They began to look back to Egypt and the food they had there. They over looked the real hardship of slavery. They began to crave fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. These are things from below the ground. God had given the Israelites Manna this was food from above not below. This was supernatural food. The people would then begin to manipulate the Manna. The Manna was perfect as is. It did not need to be created into something else. How many of us take the gifts of God and do not appreciate them? How many of us take the gifts and manipulate them to our own benefit?
Moses then complains to God about the burden of the people. God tells Moses to take 70 elders and tells him, He will take some of the spirit off of him and put it on the 70 elders. Once the 70 elders are chosen they all begin to prophesy. 2 of the men were not in the Tabernacle they were in the camp and they also began to prophesy. A young man reported to Moses the 2 men were prophesying. Joshua became upset and wanted to do something about it, but Moses said how he wished all the people would prophecy. This never happened again by these 70 men. God gave a gift that they only used once. They buried the gift like the servant in the New Testament who buried the talent in the ground. How many of us are not manipulating a gift from God? We are just as bad for not using the gift at all.
Then the Lord gives the quail and they gorge themselves with the gift of God. They are greedy and over indulge in the gifts of God. They don’t use it for the body. While they were eating the quail God sent a plague and killed some of the people. It is believed they had not properly prepare the meat before it was eaten. It still had the blood in it, or they ate it raw. They abused the gift and it cost them their lives.
The last thing we read this week is Aaron and Miriam complained about Moses and asked does God not speak to us also? These are leaders with gifts, but they feel they are being overlooked. They begin to murmur and attack the leadership. Yes they have been used by God. Yes they are important. Yes God loves them and has a plan for them. Even though God was not using them the way they thought they should be used it did not discount their value. Many of us feel we could do things better than our leadership. However running your mouth will cost you. Learning to serve, and be content in the moment is a lesson we can all benefit from.
No matter what stage you are in with your gifts. Abusing your gift. Manipulating your gift. Burying your gift. Being over zealous with your gift. Or feeling your gift is unappreciated. These are all things we go through in the process of perfecting our gifts. It is a process and it can be painful at times. However in the end if we have the right attitude and heart it will pay off.
