LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for October 21: From failure to correction

The late John Claypool, in his marvelous book Tracks of a Fellow Struggler, tells the story of the loss of his 11-year-old daughter to leukemia in the 1970s. He walks the reader through all the stages of a grieving parent. In the end, he realized he had two fundamental choices: He could allow his grief to turn to anger and bitterness at God for having taken his daughter; or, realizing that his daughter was a gift from God, he could turn to gratitude to God for the time he was allowed to know her.

Perhaps one of the most challenging of all Christian disciplines is given in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” We are not instructed to give thanks for the “thing.” We are instructed to learn to be grateful to God in the middle of the “thing.” More often than not, we can’t see beyond the “thing” that may be causing us great grief and sadness to the greater purpose of God. We should give thanks because God is with us in every “thing” (Psalm 23) and because, in the end, the greater purpose of God will be accomplished.

For reasons that appear to be rooted in jealousy more than anything else, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses as Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness. This is not an uncommon occurrence even today. Often leaders are on the receiving end of jealous criticism from others who wish to share the power and glory.

In this case, because of their criticism, Miriam and Aaron suffered greatly when Miriam was stricken by God with leprosy. This disease led to her being cut off from her community for seven days. It was a sad chapter in the life of a woman who had earlier led the children of Israel to praise God for God’s deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians at the parting of the sea. Miriam should have stayed the course of praise to God and reined in her jealous criticism.

From this vantage point, God’s decision to separate Miriam from the larger Israelite community makes perfect sense for a number of reasons. For one thing, it taught Miriam a lesson. Sin has consequences. Sometimes, those consequences are delayed for years or decades. Sometimes, as in Miriam’s case, sins consequences cost dearly and immediately. Centuries later, the prophet Micah reported God had used Miriam to help lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Obviously, the consequences of her sin taught the intended lesson but not before Miriam suffered greatly.

Another good reason for removing Miriam from the larger community is because a critical spirit in one person can be very infectious. It can grow like a viral disease and spread quickly among more and more people. Though churches today rarely discipline critical church members, the healthiest churches have mature leaders who know how to confront critical people in such a way that they are made to face the dangerous consequences of their attitude.  

In churches where critical people are left to their own devices, churches are known to split wide open and lose their witness in their community. It is worth noting that the entire pilgrimage of the Israelites was put on hold while God sorted out things between Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

It is an ancient witness to what we still see in many churches today. When a critical spirit reigns in a church, with rare exception, that church’s mission is put on hold until its spirit is healed. Almost certainly, though we do not know what happened to Miriam during her seven days of isolation, she not only was physically healed but came back into the camp with a more positive spirit. Only then was the journey of the Israelites put back on course.

There is another lesson of leadership that almost escapes our attention in this passage. The Scripture reports Moses was “very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Instead of responding to the criticism of Aaron and Miriam with defensiveness, bitterness and vengeance, when Miriam fell ill with leprosy, Moses prayed to God, “O God, please heal her.”  

Good leadership demands the ability to listen beyond the criticism of others to the larger picture of what God is trying to do. It also demands the kind of humility that is willing to use one’s power to pray for one’s enemies, not work for their destruction. Moses had many options available to him and a great deal of power to deal retribution on Miriam and Aaron. His greatest power was when he was on his knees in prayer, and Moses knew it.

Abraham Lincoln once said: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.” That is the kind of humility that saw our nation through to a better place during the Civil War.

Without doubt, it was Moses’ attitude, as well. The leadership crisis he faced was so crucial that Moses knew that God, and God alone, could resolve it.

Miriam and Aaron learned a lesson in gratitude. Moses modeled humble and prayerful leadership. This story is ancient. Its meaning is as powerful for the 21st century church as any the Bible teaches.