Resisting Defense and Trusting in God's Mighty Hand

It amazes me sometimes how quick I am to defend myself against "injustice" in light of Who is in charge of my life. I long to humble myself, and to trust God's defense for His child, not my own defense. I am not saying revenge, but defense. God will decide His means of defending me (as well as all of His children), but I believe that He will defend.

Numbers 12 is a great picture of what God's defense will be and what our response should be against persecution. "Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses..." A quick look in Exodus reminds us that Aaron and Miriam were a part of Moses' own family! Sometimes even the closest people to us can speak against us. I do not know if Aaron and Miriam were speaking these words publicly or in secret, but "...the Lord heard this." Perhaps a warning to us that God hears every word we speak, and a comfort that God hears every unjust word spoken against us.

Then comes verse three: "(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)" Not that Moses was sinless, but it seems that of all men on the earth that deserved least to be "talked against," it was Moses. Just an opinion, but I can imagine that Aaron and Miriam's problems with Moses could have been solved if they simply would have gone and talked to him, for humble people are easy to approach. Either way, even if you are currently the "humblest man on the earth," men and women will speak against you in some way or another (and they may do so because they are jealous of your humility!). O that we may go to God with our heart cry and resist the urge to defend ourselves. May we let our loving, heavenly Father (Who is the God of the universe!) defend us.

Back within Numbers, God summons Moses, Miriam, and Aaron to the Tent of Meeting and defends Moses. In verses six through eight, God tells of Moses' special place in relation to Himself: "With him I speak face to face...Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? The anger of the Lord burned against them...When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam- leprous, like snow."
I do not know if Moses ever verbally defended himself against Aaron and Miriam's words "against" him. But I truly believe he didn't have to. For God heard the words and defended His beloved the way He knows best to, as He will us.

1 Peter 5:5b-7 concludes perfectly: "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

give thanks in all circumstances.. 1 Thess. 5:18

In the last few years I've gone through a lot of circumstances: "Why me?" circumstances; "I can't believe this is happening." circumstances; "God, is this a cruel joke?" circumstances; "I can't take much more of this, God!" circumstances.


How do you give thanks in those circumstances? An even better question might be, why in the world would you give thanks in those circumstances? Both the how and the why of giving thanks find an answer when we turn our focus off of the circumstances and on to God. God never changes, so regardless of what is happening in our life, if God was ever good he is still good, and giving thanks is simply choosing to believe God is who He says He is, even when everything else in our life says He's not.

This seems to be the problem that Job faced. Job had served God faithfully throughout his life, and throughout his life God had given Job prosperity and blessing. Job knew God was good and he knew God was loving, and up until that point in Job's life, his life and his circumstances had confirmed what he knew was true about God. Then Job's world turned upside down. Everything that Job loved and valued in this world turned to dust. Everything that had given visible, tangible confirmation that God was good and that God was love, disappeared.

At this point, Job had to make a conscious choice-whether to interpret things according to his own understanding or to take God at His word, no matter how horrible the circumstances.

In your life and my life will come times when we have to make this same choice. Circumstances will come that say that God is not good and that He is unworthy of our praise, and like Job's wife we can agree with the circumstances and say to ourselves, "Curse God and die!" Job 2:9, or we can look at the horror and the madness that seem to be burying us alive and, like Job, say "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." Job 13:15. Job knew that no matter what happened to him, God was sovereign over his life, and no matter how things appeared, God's ways were higher than his ways(Isa. 55:9).

When we give thanks in every circumstance, we proclaim before all creation that God is sovereign in our lives, and no tragedy or harm, from man or nature or angel, can touch us without his allowance. When hate surrounds us, we can thank God that He is love. When doom surrounds us, we can thank God that He is victorious. When death comes for us, we can thank God that He is life. No matter what happens in this world, thank God, because He has overcome the world! Jn. 16:33.

Spiritual Hunger

As we must feed the hunger of our flesh, we must feed the hunger of our Spirit. If there is food for our earthly bodies, there must be food for our spiritual ones. That food cannot be meat, or fruit or vegetables - food of this world. These things can only feed the earthly being, and have no capacity to feed the spiritual being. So what is the spiritual food? It is the same food that fed our Savior. " 'My food,' said Jesus, ' is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work' " (John 4:34). If we cannot live long in our earthly bodies without feeding them, do we think we can live long spiritually without feeding our spiritual hunger? Doing the will of the Father, our nourishment, always takes us back to His Word. For it is in His Word that we find His will; and it is His very words that bring us nourishment: " Jesus answered, ' It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:4).