Enjoy Life, Enjoy God

D-I-S-R-E-S-P-E-C-T

July 24, 2009

Aretha crunched the rock/soul classic, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Rodney Dangerfield made a comedy career with his trademark, "I get no respect." And it becomes a problem for Moses...and others.

Now Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses...

Listen to my words:
When there are prophets of the Lord among you, I reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face...Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
-Number 12 excerpts TNIV

"Familiarity breeds contempt" is the old proverb. So Moses' partners in ministry, Miriam and Aaron, begin to grumble against Moses: "Who does Moses think he is. He's no big deal." Surprisingly??? God gets wind of the petty murmurs and gives them a talking too. In essence says, "Straighten up. Moses does what I tell him to do I speak to him face to face. You would do well to listen to him as well." Now I'll spare you some of the details (you can read about them in Numbers 12), but let's say, God gets the whiners' attention, and they decide to stop murmuring.

The issue for spiritual leadership is respect, and Miriam and Aaron chose disrespect. In disrespecting Moses, doing so, they dishonored their devotion to the Lord. (I realize about this time that this message tends to serve my self-interest--you'll just have to sort that out.) Miriam and Aaron learned the hard way, but they learned, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. A valuable lesson overlooked in a culture of self, of autonomy.
Joyfully,

Dale Patterson