# Meekness of Moses

Key Passage: Numbers 12
Date: June 7, 2024

With Numbers chapter 12 tonight. We have been on the life of Moses since the fall of 2022. I’m going to seek to kind of move on here a little bit. We’ll be on it, I think, for a couple more Wednesday nights. We’re going to be closing it out fairly soon and kind of skip over some things. Sometimes we can get a little redundant. I just thought that may be time to move on a little bit, so we’re going to wind it down. We’re going to look at maybe a verse tonight about Isaiah, one of the summaries of Moses, and very interesting what God says and the timing of God saying this about Moses. I want us to see it tonight and believe what the Lord has for us tonight in Numbers chapter 12 of God’s Word.

And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an Ethiopian woman. Now, let me just say a word or two here. I don’t know that the major reason they are speaking is because he had married. I think it’s more than that. The reason why I say that is because he had married her years and years earlier. Remember, it was in those 40 years back on the backside of the desert that he married her, unless she had died and another woman other than the same nationality as Zipporah. The Bible never tells us about that. So I don’t know, maybe they were bothered that she had influence over Moses and maybe her customs from back home. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but something’s kind of got them riled up about this, saying, “Well, he’s married this Ethiopian woman,” and it was bothering them. They began to speak against it. Verse number two.

And they said, notice it not just in their hearts or minds, but they went the next level and they said, “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?” And the Lord heard it. There again, I say maybe because Moses had so much power and she was influencing him that they were saying these things. I’m not sure. But the big thing, that last part of the verse here, “And the Lord heard it.”

Now here is our text verse we want to focus on eventually. By the way, notice the parentheses around verse number three. If the King James Bible is italicized, that’s the King James translators telling us they had to add words. The other versions, they don’t do that; they add words, they don’t tell you. King James translators told us when they did that. They had to do that when you translate it from one language to another; you have to do that from time to time. But they had the integrity and the leadership of God to let us know when they did that. The other versions don’t do that, see. But parentheses are a little different. They seem to be a fault inside of the fault, okay? Many think—and this wouldn’t be a gospel truth, I wouldn’t argue over—many think that another man after Moses, a prophet under the inspiration of God, led them to—and this is in the originals, and everybody will say that the original manuscripts, this is in there, I’m not trying to say it’s not—but some will say that someone came along and added this because it’s talking very positively about Moses, and Moses would not do that. So someone else added this under the leadership of the Lord. It is in the original manuscript; I understand what I’m saying. But that’s why the parentheses are there. We couldn’t prove that, I want you to know that, but some will say that.

Now, verse number three: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Wow, what a compliment.

It hurts when anyone is coming at you. It just hurts. Nobody likes to be shot at. But then it hurts even a little bit more when it’s family shooting at you—part of your immediate family, your siblings—they’re shooting at you. That can be very hurtful. If you have siblings shooting at you, that hurts.

On top of all that, they were ganging up on Moses, two against one. His only siblings, his brother and his sister, both coming at him. That’s very hurtful. That’s very hard to take. It’s just hard to handle. And then they were speaking it to the Israelites. It looks like they were trying to gain people on their side to go against Moses. It’s hard to take that.

But I want you to notice Moses. As far as we know, there is nothing in Scripture recording Moses did not fight back on this situation. He didn’t say a word. Really, they are saying just Moses is silent. The Lord heard it, and from our context, we’ll notice—I think Moses for sure knew about it—but it doesn’t say anything about it.

Now, you said, well, Moses was just afraid to speak up. No, I don’t think so. I remember when he was 40 years old and he saw that Egyptian persecuting and whipping that Israelite, he got so mad, he killed the Egyptian. He’s very capable. I tend to think Moses was trained in martial arts, probably from when he grew up in Pharaoh’s court. He can handle himself, no problem at all. It wasn’t that he was afraid to speak up.

You say, well, he just was afraid to speak out at this point of his life. Well, it wasn’t too much before this. He came down off the mount with the Ten Commandments in his hand, and they had the golden calf there and the rock and roll music there, the séance going on, if you will. Man, he got so mad, he threw them down and broke them. And then he—it’s amazing—he stood up to whatever two million Jews there were, and he took that calf, just in front of them, melted it down, grounded the powder, put it in the water, and he made those millions of people drink it. You don’t call that guy mild-tempered. You don’t call him that. He’s very capable of standing up. You call that strength. He’s able to do that.

Somebody would say, well, he couldn’t stand up to family. Well, back over there, same thing with the Golden Calf, he stood up to Aaron. “What in the world are you doing? What these people do to him? Aaron, what’s your problem? You have a problem standing up.”

But he chose. He chose this instance. He didn’t do anything about it. You won’t find Moses fighting back or defending himself in this instance.

Now let’s look and see what God does about it. Let’s just finish out the chapter. Let’s find out what God does about this thing here. Let’s start in verse number four. We know what’s going on. Now let’s find out what God does about it. The last thing we read in verse number two: “And the Lord heard it.” And verse number three: Moses is the meekest man on the earth.

And then verse number four: “And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.” And they three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam.

It’s very interesting. The first part over there, verse number one, it lists Miriam first, maybe because she was the oldest. I tend to think, because she was the leader of this thing, because she ends up getting the worst punishment in it. But now, maybe because he’s the priest, maybe because he’s the male here between the two, and He called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth. And He said, “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream.”

“My servant Moses.” I like it. God often calls Moses His servant. It is a couple times in this past; He said, “My servant Moses.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God could say that about us? “My servant.” Man, what a great thing. “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house? With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and He departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow.

And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, “Alas, my Lord”—notice the lowercase letters there—“alas, my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.”

And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, “Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.”

And the Lord said unto Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that, let her be received in again.”

Let me just say a word about this thing, “spit in her face.” That was customary in Israel in that part of the world if the child was just very rebellious and just kept going against mom and dad. That was a tradition: they would spit in their face, and they would be kept apart from the dad; they would not be able to talk to their dad for seven days. And God says, “Now, your earthly dad didn’t deal with it, so I’m going to deal with it now.”

And, of course, part of the leprosy is that she had to be put outside the camp for seven days. God put this leprosy on Miriam, and so she’s put outside the camp for seven days. And then the Lord said, if her dad wouldn’t have done that—by the way, that shows you what happens in your childhood does affect you later on. If her dad wouldn’t have taken care of business, she was spoiled rotten, in other words. Her dad wouldn’t take care of business, and so now I’ve got to take care of business. And God did.

And then look at the last verse here, verse number 15: “And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.”

Here is the thing I think the Lord would have us really get to in this whole story: What’s going on? Moses’ siblings are coming against him. Miriam was, by the way, the Bible calls her a prophetess. Remember after the great victory at the Red Sea when the waters came down on Pharaoh’s army and Moses sang—that next chapter, Exodus 15—and they’re singing that, Miriam, she was a leader of the women there with the tambourine and all that. Anyway, they’re saying this, “Hey, Moses, you know, because of his wife and all that.” God says, “I’m going to do something about it,” but I want you to notice in the midst of this story, Moses never said a word. He doesn’t fight back; he doesn’t retaliate against Miriam and Aaron. Right in the midst of this instance here, notice what God has in His Word. However it happened, God did it on purpose, and God has that verse number three right there. Look back at verse number three, chapter 12, verse number three: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”

That word “meek” is a little tough to put a definition on. The world has its definition for it. If you search the word “meek,” typically you’re going to find gentle or mild, sometimes even patient. It’s very interesting how many modern versions that mess up the Word of God will change this word “meek.” Typically, they’ll change it for the word “humble,” which to me misses the definition there. The NIV changes it to that; the New King James changes it to that—humble. No, God said meek; He said it for a reason. You are changing, you are messing up the meaning of it.

Let me just say a word here about meekness. Sometimes we associate meekness with weakness in our modern day. Moses wasn’t a weak guy. He was already killing a guy, you know, 42 years ago, and I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but you don’t call that weak. It wasn’t like he was just too weak to do anything about it. He stood up and threw the Ten Commandments table down, broke them, and stood up to all those millions of people and made them drink the water after putting the golden calf in the ground up. You don’t call that weakness. That’s not what meekness means.

So what is it? It’s a little tough to put a definition on there. “Meek” is found 17 times in the Bible. “Meekness” is found 14 times in the Bible. Out of both of those, “meek” and “meekness,” this is the first time in all of God’s Word it is used. You can go back to the original Greek word, praus, and whatnot, and it’s very tough; it’s kind of been tempered with so much. So I just like to use the Bible to define the Bible, and that’s what we’re going to do a little bit tonight.

So what is this thing? The first time God uses this word “meek” is talking about Moses, a very strong, capable man, very trained—trained by the best of the world in that day and time in Pharaoh’s court. Moses is this man. And yet this time that the Bible says he is the meekest man around is the time that Moses used his ability to not fight back. He had some control; he had restraint about him. Was he capable? Oh, I think so. He stood up to millions of people on his own. But he has strength, but he is controlling it. He has the ability to trust God to handle the situation. That’s tough when someone is shooting at you, especially siblings shooting at you, especially your siblings are shooting at you, and especially when they are trying to lead other people to come against you. And yet, in the midst of all that, he had the ability to just trust God. As far as we know, he never fought back; he never said anything about it. He just let God handle it. This is the first time God in His Word uses this word “meek.”

I think the best definition I can find for meekness or meek is strength under control. I would add: strength under control during adversity while people are shooting at you.

Some will say this—I could not prove it. You’ll find both sides on the Internet about this—but some will go back to the Greek word praus and say it’s been used in the past with the Greeks when they would get wild horses. They would bring them in; they would train them. If they were fairly trainable, they would use them maybe to pull a cart or use them for households, different things. But a very strong horse that was very trainable—I mean, you know that horse is going to obey. You know that horse is strength under control. You know that horse you could just kind of pull back a little bit, and it pulls back, or if you nudge it with your foot, it’s going to go forward no matter when or where or what. And they say that horse was meek, or praus, or trained, and it became a war horse, and they could use it as an elite horse. Now, I don’t know if I can prove that. Some argue that on the Internet. It’s amazing on the Internet; you can pretty much find whatever you want to find. That’s just the way we are in our day and time. That’s why I’d just like to go by the Bible on this one here. But it does kind of give me a little picture, a little visual, of strength under control. Moses, I think he is a very strong man, but he was under control to the point where, when he was having opposition coming against him, siblings coming against him, and talking about—they said it out loud—he had the strength of not fighting back.

Now, I’m not saying you should never fight back. There are times I believe God wants a Christian to stand up. Sunday, we were kind of preaching on that line about abortion and being a light and salt in the world. But we always ought to have the strength to stay under control. That control may be like Jesus when He was on trial before Herod, and He didn’t say a word. Sometimes Jesus was very capable of standing up to the Pharisees, and sometimes that control might mean you speak up at work when you ought to speak up at work, and sometimes you don’t say anything. But you have control; you have strength under control. That’s meekness.

Meekness is spoken of in the Bible in very great ways. Every Christian ought to seek to be meek. Look over, if you will, in Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 28. Seems like we’ve been going to these verses a fair amount here lately. There are wonderful verses. You’ll know them as Jesus speaking here, Matthew 11, down at the end of the chapter there. I want you to notice what Jesus says here in Matthew 11, verse number 28. Matthew 11:28. When you find that, would you say amen? Good deal. Look at verse number 28 right there. Matthew 11 and verse number 28. He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am…” What’s the next word? “…meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your soul.”

So Jesus was meek. Does that mean He was just gentle and mild and weak, if you will? No. Man, you find Him going into the temple, and the Pharisees and all them, they had the changers of money and they were making merchandise. Man, Jesus went in there twice—early in His ministry and later on in His ministry—and He flipped the tables over and said, “Get out of here! This is My Father’s house, and it’s supposed to be called a house of prayer. Get out of here!” And that wasn’t weak. When He knew He ought to stand up, He was very capable of standing up.

At one point, it was in His hometown of Nazareth, and they took Him up to the brow of the hill; they were going to push Him off the cliff and kill Jesus way before the time. And it was down on the cross. And the Bible says He went through the midst of them. Now, I don’t know exactly how that happened. Maybe He was built like a linebacker; I’m not sure. Maybe He just—you know, the righteous are as bold as a lion, but the wicked flee when none pursueth. Maybe that’s what—I’m not sure—but the Bible says He went right through the middle of all of them, “Get out of here, I’m coming through,” type thing. But He wasn’t weak; He was under control.

He was willing to flip over the tables; He was in front of them all. He was willing to go through them—that was in His hometown, by the way. I was wondering where His half-brothers were at that moment. Anyway, He was able to stand up to the whole crowd any time He needed to.

And yet, when old Judas left the garden, and remember old Judas leads those soldiers there, and Judas kisses Him on the cheek—Jesus knew what was going on, that betrayer. Does that make you mad at Judas? You want to just hit him or something? You know, “I’m sorry, traitor!” You know what Jesus did at that moment? He called him friend. Wow. You call that control? Friend? Strength? Oh, yes, oh yes, but under control.

Jesus in the Bible says, “Hey, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” By the way, notice two different things: “meek and lowly in heart.” That’s for the NIV; it doesn’t mean humble. Two different things, amen? No, it doesn’t mean you never fight back. It means you have control to fight back when God wants you to fight back, and you have the power to withhold when God wants to withhold, just like Moses did.

Look over in Galatians chapter 5. You know this in Galatians chapter 5. You are just told that all of us ought to seek to be meek. Look over Galatians chapter 5 and look in verse number 22. Galatians 5 and verse number 22 here in God’s Word. Galatians 5. Look in verse number 22, if you would please, of God’s Word. You’ll know it; maybe you’ll probably keep quoted. Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit”—that’s interesting, the fruit—by the way, it talks about the works of the flesh, but the fruit of the Spirit—two different things. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith." What’s the next word? “Meekness.” So I learn one of the fruit, the ninefold fruit of the Spirit, one of the fruit, a part of that fruit is to be meek. It’s a fruit of the Spirit.

Look over in Matthew chapter 5. Jesus is giving the Beatitudes on the Sermon on the Mount. I want you to notice the third Beatitude Jesus gives over here, Matthew chapter 5, Matthew 5 and verse number 5 of God’s Word. Matthew 5:5. By the way, the first time it’s mentioned is over there, Numbers 12, talking about Moses, the meekest man on earth when he was restraining himself as the siblings were coming against him. Watch what Jesus says here. Matthew 5 in verse number 5, He said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” If I remember, I’ll talk about that just a minute here—they shall inherit the earth.

A while back, I was with a family member—well, two different families—a dad was in hospice. A family member was there, very concerned about the relative passing, and very burdened about it, and a little bit concerned about hospice care. You hear these stories, and I’m not saying they are never true, but you hear that. I see this doctor come in, and the family member asked me to stay and sit through it all. I watched as, about 45 minutes or an hour maybe, the family member just, in a nice, polite way—very respected, very polite—but in a nice, polite way, just really shot at this doctor. “Why are you getting my dad this medicine? Why are you doing this?”

I was really very impressed with that medical doctor, very knowledgeable. He had been a doctor for years and years; he was very old—oh, my goodness, probably 54 or something like that. I’m teasing. He was maybe older than that. But anyway, he was very knowledgeable, been a doctor for all these years and had his own practice and all that stuff. But I watched as that doctor was very controlled. He wasn’t a wimp; you could tell that. And he understood their concern, but he just methodically, in a good, knowledgeable, healthy way, answered the questions. The other gentleman was a gentleman about it, too. He really was. But he was concerned, and rightfully so.

Here’s my point: I was very impressed with the strength under control, the meekness of that doctor. He did a great job. I wish I could handle meetings just like that all the time. He did a great job. I think that’s a little bit of what God’s talking about: meek. Moses, he’s the meekest man on the earth at that time. Jesus said, “Come over here, I want you to take my yoke and learn of me, for I am meek.” Learn of Jesus; He is meek. Meekness is so very, very important, so crucial.

I would like to be more meek. I’m not saying I’m there; sometimes I’m a long shot from it. I need to work at this. So, three ways we can grow in meekness.

Number one: Learn to walk after or in the Spirit during battle. I say “walk after” because Romans 8 uses it twice talking about walking after. Galatians 5 twice says “walk in the Spirit.” When the conflict, when the battle starts and somebody is shooting at you, you understand we all have a flesh. Anybody out there whose flesh gets its feathers ruffled a little bit? Man, I do. I can feel it inside, and I’m trying to stay calm down. You know what I’m talking about? Yeah. But at the same time, what strives and battles against the flesh? The Spirit. As I yield and walk after the Spirit, “All right, Holy Spirit, what am I supposed to do here? What do You want me to do?” It’s amazing how sometimes He can give clear leadership on the spur of the moment. Sometimes He can always do it when needed. Sometimes He already has given you prior instructions what to do. The Lord knows what is coming. But as I walk after the Spirit, then I end up with the fruit.

Here’s the thing about fruit: it takes time to produce fruit. You are not going to plant—I often think about orange trees because I grew up a lot in Florida. You can plant an orange tree, but it’s going to take a good while to get oranges off of that. Sometimes it takes experience of these battles, and you learn sometimes very small to start following, walking out to the flesh in the middle of these when people are coming at you. But the more you do that, and the more experience and the more time, the more you get the fruit of the Spirit. Your meekness grows through the Spirit of God. Only God can grow it. I can plant it and water it and fertilize it, but God makes it.

At this point of Moses’ life, I would have to say Moses is around 80, probably 82 years old. He wasn’t a young man. He had been in battles a lot. He grew up kind of in the battles—Hebrew, but he was grown up in Pharaoh’s court. I’m sure there were people talking about him, the Egyptians talking about him and the Hebrews talking about him. He had some experience. Then he killed the Egyptian, as we mentioned several times tonight, and he had to run and get out of Dodge. And then he had experienced 40 years on the backside of the desert.

You can grow in meekness. You can grow in these crucial moments when people are coming at you. You can grow in learning to say, “Hey, I’m going to follow up what the Spirit wants instead of what my flesh wants.” As I do that over time, God produces fruit, and part of that fruit is meekness. No one likes to be in the arena where people are shooting at you. I don’t like it. Someone was talking about a position, and they said, “Well, I don’t like to get out there because you get out in that position and people start…” And it’s true. Nobody likes that. But sometimes, if the Lord is leading you there, that’s the key. If the Lord is leading you there, and over time, with people coming at you and you following after the Spirit, then God begins to grow even more your meekness. It’s a fruit of the Spirit.

So how do I grow in meekness? Over time and through experience, I learn to handle it better than the last time. Maybe my flesh got the best of me the last time, but you say, “I’m going to do better. I’m going to walk after the Spirit.” You learn to resist the desire to fight back. Now, like I say, sometimes God leads you to fight back, but sometimes God—you know, God doesn’t want you to fight back. Someone said this; I studied up today online: “A meek person is one who knows their strength and doesn’t try to use it to belittle others.” I thought that’s pretty good.

How can I grow in meekness? Learning to walk after the Spirit during the battles by experience.

Number two: Learn from Jesus. Jesus said, “Hey, come over here to learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart.” Help me out. When they came and Judas kissed Him, Peter fought back, got that sword out trying to cut off his head—mutilate his head and his ear and all that. Did Jesus fight back? No. Did Jesus have to go through some suffering? Oh, yeah. That night, I think that night, in some ways the worst part of it: they buffeted Him, and they spit on Him, and they slapped Him, and they mocked Him. And the next morning, over there to Pilate, then to Herod, back to Pilate—I mean, just the torture of it all, and the cat o’ nine tails, and then the cross, and sitting up there, and the sun, after His back and body was just opened up, and He’s sitting up there with the sun beating down on Him for three hours, and there was the darkness for three hours, and all that. And Jesus just strength under control. He could—we sing it—He could have called 10,000 angels; He could have called 12 legions of angels. That’s a whole lot more strength under control, and He’s like, “Hey, learn of Me. Look at My example. Follow what I’ve done.”

By the way, He knew the Father had a plan. He knew. In the end, it brought salvation to mankind; there is the greatest victory there ever has been. And we learn of Jesus. Jesus knew, “Hey, it’s not my time. I’m laying My life down. Not my time to fight back.” He told them, “If I fought back, y’all wouldn’t stand a chance. And I’m out of this world. My time will come to fight back. It will—at the Second Coming of Christ.” I’m looking forward to that day, by the way. Amen. That is whenever you will bow.

Maybe next time we get shot at, we say, “I’m going to learn of Jesus.” Yes. Now, maybe sometimes you are a little weak and you are not able to stand up. Okay, strength under control. Maybe God has already led you to stand up, but you are under control of the leadership of God.

Let me say this about learning from Jesus and getting weakness: learn to forgive like Jesus did. Seven utterances on the cross. When Jesus is on the cross, what is the first one? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Learn to forgive.

Look over in Ecclesiastes. I love this verse. I need to memorize it. I noticed it a year or two ago, and I haven’t memorized it yet. Look at this great, great verse. Ecclesiastes chapter number seven. And look at verse number 21. Ecclesiastes 7:21. Watch what he says. He says, “Also take no heed unto all the words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee.” He said, don’t be listening to what everybody says about you. If you listen close enough to what people say, somebody is going to say something that is going to bother you.

Now watch verse number 22. It’s amazing. “For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.” That’s pretty amazing. Don’t get too serious about what people are saying. You have said things you ought not to say about other people too. That’s what he’s saying right there. Forgive them. Let it go.

If the Lord has led you that this person is always doing it time and time again, the Lord has led you to stand up, but you are under control. More often than not, God says, “You know, they’re just having a bad day. They said something they shouldn’t have, and you did the same thing.” Just let it go. That is strength under control.

I believe Jesus had learned to let the Father be the judge. God the Father gave it back to Jesus, the judge, being judged. But that’s why He said at the very end, He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” They are coming at Me, they are killing Me, but I’m going to put it in Your hands. By the way, Philippians 2 at the end—what does the Bible say?—“He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. God told me, and God the Father, He said, “I’m going to have every knee bow, every tongue confessing Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Things in the heavens, things in the earth, things under the earth—every knee is going to bow one day. And Jesus said, “Hey, learn of Me. I’ve learned to be under control and not fight back when I’m not supposed to fight back. God can handle this situation.”

By the way, I think that’s a little bit of what Matthew 5 is talking about: “They shall inherit the earth.” These people were bold enough and wise enough and strong enough to control themselves. God says, “I saw it all. One day, one day in the millennium, I’m going to give them back the earth. I saw all that.”

What happened when Moses here? God says, “I see all that, Moses. I see your two siblings coming after you, and they are trying to lead other people coming after you. I see it all.” And in the end, did God take care of it? You better believe it took care of it. Oh, yeah.

Learn of Jesus. Learn of Moses also, but learn of Jesus. Learn to walk after the Spirit during the battles by experience. Number two, learn from Jesus.

And number three, how to grow in our meekness. Look back in verse number 13, verse number 13 of Numbers 12. God plagued Miriam with the leprosy. And Aaron says, “Oh, Moses, you’ve got to do something about this.” What does Moses do about it? Verse number 13, Numbers 12, look at verse number 13: “And Moses cried unto the Lord.” It wasn’t just, “All right, Lord, please do something.” He cried. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, “Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee. I beg you, I beseech thee.”

Can I just put it this way? Love people. Just get God’s love. Love people. Why didn’t Moses do that? Well, maybe a number of reasons, but one thing: I think he just loved his sister. Very interesting. Let me read for this verse, Proverbs 10:12: “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.” Wow. That’s pretty strong. Do this: Pray, “Lord, have me to love people. Lord, have me to love people. Have me to love sometimes difficult people. Share with me Your heart for that person, Lord. Have me to love them like You do.” Pray it. It will help you grow in meekness.

One more passage. We’re done. Look over in Proverbs 25. Oh, Moses, God made his man on the earth at that time, Moses. When did God say that about Moses? When siblings were coming after him, he didn’t fight back. God took care of it. He trusted God; He let God be the judge. I think he loved his sister. He was following after the Spirit, if you would.

Then look at this passage here in Proverbs 25. Proverbs 25. And look in verse number 21. Proverbs 25:21: “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.” By the way, you find very similar in the New Testament in Romans: “Give him bread to eat.”

“For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.” I think—I don’t know, I wouldn’t argue—but I think what he has to do with is, you know, if we get involved in this battle, man, we just duke it out, and that thing goes on forever. Imagine that: Moses, Miriam, and Aaron just fighting it out for years to come. But when you follow God’s plan in this case, you give them bread, you give them water. Look, you have coals of fire on their head, and they won’t lift their head back up. God takes care of it long-term, not just boom. Not just you get one hit in, but they are going to hit you back. God puts something on their head, and they aren’t going to lift their head back up. I think that’s what he has to do with it.

But I want you to notice this last part. We didn’t read it yet. Verse 22, last part: “And the Lord shall reward thee.” Who heard when Miriam and Aaron were going after Moses saying all that about him? The Lord. The Lord heard it. What does He say here? The Lord says, “Hey, when you go ahead and you take care of the enemies, you give them bread and water, I see that. Just be meek, be under control. I got it. I know what’s going on. Obey Me.”

If God sometimes leads you, “Hey, you need to protect whoever it may be; you need to fight,” it’s just becoming a redundant thing. They need somebody to say, “All right, do that.” But sometimes God says, “No, you don’t fight back,” and your strength is under control. God says, “I see that.” The meek, they shall inherit the earth one day; I’ll see to that. You take care of your enemies; you give them bread and water. God says, “I see it. I’ll reward you. I’ll take care of it.”

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - - Meekness of Moses - Wednesday PM 01242024