Danger!!  Danger!!  If you haven’t yet read yesterday’s post, you should do that and then come back to this one. (Well, nothing really bad will happen if you don’t.  It’ll just make more sense to you, hopefully.)

OK, so Moses is a mess!  Was the problem really all the outside pressures of his life?  If so, then Moses was going to stay a mess because “outside pressures” are going to happen.

Let’s listen to what the Shepherd has told us.

Before they left Mt. Sinai, Mo’ was all about the “good” that God had “promised” to do.  Remember?  He was inviting his father-in-law to join them and get in on it.  But where is Moses’ focus now?  In his complaints, it’s I…me…I…I and then me…I…I…me and one more “me.”  Moses has made it clear that he cannot handle it. That’s OK.  We’ve all been there.  But it points out that the first sign of trouble was that…

  • Moses forgot the promises of God.

It’s so easy to let outside pressures do that — to squeeze the time we need with the Lord out of our schedule.  In fact, the pressure can make us so dizzy that we lose focus and begin to think that being able to handle everything depends on US.  But that wasn’t all that was happening to Moses.

God reassures Moses that it isn’t all about him and that He is going to provide meat.  Oh yea, God was going to PROVIDE! But do you remember how Moses responded?  Here’s the second problem…

  • Moses doubts the power of God.

Forgetting (or not knowing) what God has said and doubting what God can do is a recipe for all sorts of bad stuff!  Of course, don’t we find it easier to blame it on the “outside pressures” rather than to be honest with ourselves and with the Lord and just agree that we’ve laid His Word aside and doubted His power?  Isn’t it true when God seems distant that we, the sheep, have moved away from Him rather than the other way around?

Now that we know WHY Moses was all stressed out, what did the Lord tell him?

Did you look at the passage?  You really should.  Don’t take my word for it, take His!

OK, here’s what I heard.

  1. Let the Lord surround you with people who can help.  (Numbers 11:16-17) [That's the church!]
  2. Get ready (holy) TODAY for what you hope to see the Lord to do tomorrow.  (Numbers 11:18) [That's the importance of the spiritual disciplines.]
  3. Depend on (trust) the Lord to do what He says!    (Numbers 11:23) [That's our only hope.]

Continuing to listen…