Class Lesson October 21, 2012

Hey Gang,


We continue this week with our series question: How do I find life after failure? Last week we learned that sometimes we dismiss the importance of our failure and never realize how far reaching the consequences and ramifications of our choices might be. There is always a redemptive path we can take and sometimes we just have to get back on God's path. This week we take a look at a very ugly part of each of us that God really doesn't appreciate - a discontented and critical spirit.  Miriam is our biblical character this week as we look for ways to avoid being discontent and critical of others.

I. FOLLOW GOD’S LEADERSHIP – EXODUS 15:19-21

19 When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with their tambourines and danced. 21 Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. 

 
What was the setting for these verses? Who was Miriam and what do we know about her before this passage? How did she celebrate what the Lord had done?

• Miriam and Aaron were siblings of Moses. They worked as a team to do great things for God. Miriam was the older sister of Moses whom God used to save her baby brother when he was afloat in an ark on the river. But today’s passage highlights choices they might wish were never recorded. What makes servants of God behave this way? What’s the solution?
• God is able to deliver His people and these deliverances should be celebrated. Miriam began by not only praising God for the safe crossing through the Red Sea, but she also led others to thank God – beautiful leadership!
• Women and men should participate in praising God and leaders should encourage this. After the deliverance from Egypt at the Red Sea, she praised God and invited other women to join in celebrating.

II. AVOID A CRITICAL SPIRIT – NUMBERS 12:1-3

Miriam and Aaron Rebel

12 Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman). 2 They said, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does He not also speak through us?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.

What is your impression of Miriam now and how was she different in these verses than the previous verses? Why did Moses face so much complaining? What sins did Miriam commit? Who was Moses’ wife? Why did Miriam resent her? What was Aaron’s part in this incident? What kind of man was Moses?

• On the way to Canaan, Miriam and Aaron were angry that Moses married an Ethiopian woman. Who was this Cushite woman? Cush was the son of Ham, the son of Noah. After the flood, Ham’s descendants settled into northwestern Africa. So the term Cushite referred to people from the area that is now Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan (Gen. 10:1-7). When Moses ran from Egypt after killing an Egyptian, he ended up in the land of Midian, across the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, in what is now part of Saudi Arabia. There he met and married Zipporah (Ex. 2:11-21). When Miriam criticized Moses for his marriage to a Cushite woman, she may have been referring to Zipporah in a racist manner. Or Moses may have married a second wife at a time when Zipporah had left the Israelite camp and gone back to Midian to visit her father Jethro. Most likely Zipporah had died and Moses had recently remarried this Cushite woman who perhaps had come along with the Israelites when they left Egypt. God had forbidden His people to intermarry with some foreign peoples, especially pagans, but He had not said His people were not to marry Cushites. Joseph’s wife was Egyptian (Gen. 41:45).
• Miriam used prejudice as a smokescreen to blur the real issue. She insinuated Moses’ marriage to a Cushite women meant his leadership could not be trusted. Miriam and Aaron also complained that Moses was getting too much of the honor of leading Israel out of Egyptian slavery. They felt that they deserved more of the credit because the Lord spoke through them too. Some people respond to the success of others by criticizing them.
• Humility, or meekness, is the Christian opposite of the sin of pride.
• Humble people quietly endure the slings and arrows of false accusations.

We all have frustrations. How can we handle them in ways that actually solve things, rather than a reactionary way like Miriam and Aaron did here? How does Miriam’s example play out in our lives? What are reasons we get discontent and what is our remedy?

• We show true focus when we heed God by choosing love, patience, goodness, self-control, and the other fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) in every situation. It doesn’t work to rejoice in good and despair over bad.
• We tend to get a little near-sighted when it comes to family. We may need to step back and regain a godly perspective.
• We must develop our relationship with God. He doesn’t favor or love other Christians if He blesses them differently.

III. ACCEPT GOD’S CORRECTION – NUMBERS 12:8-13, 15

8 I speak with him directly, openly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” 9 The Lord’s anger burned against them, and He left. 10 As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, as white as snow. When Aaron turned toward her, he saw that she was diseased 11 and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Please don’t let her be like a dead baby whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” 13 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her!”

15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in. 

What was God’s response to Miriam and Aaron’s criticisms? If you had been in their place, what would you have felt? What happened to Miriam and Aaron?

• Sins become more serious when they are put into words and God will ask some hard questions about why we commit certain sins.
• Sin brings punishment and chastisement, but God offers forgiveness and restoration when we repent of our sins.

How does God feel when we focus on and complain about what He’s given others rather than gratefully accept and use what He’s given us? What will He do when we lose focus?

• God gets rightfully angry when we question His work, His character, and His right to do what is best with and for people. If we don’t take steps to correct our spiritual vision, God will!

Conclusion

In these stories about Miriam we see her at her best and at her worst. At her best, we see her praising God and leading others to praise Him. At her worst, we see her act as a selfish, self-centered person. She showed her selfishness by her proud assumption that she deserved more recognition than she had received. Not only did she feel that she had not received enough recognition but also showed envy that Moses had received more than his share. It was bad enough to have such evil thoughts, but it only added to the hurtful power of sin to complain about it to others. It was bad enough to have in her heart selfishness, pride, and envy, but her complaining hurt everyone involved. Have you ever fallen into this trap? Why is envy a dangerous sin?

Prayer of Commitment

Lord, help me to be humble and faithful in Your service. Amen.

Be in prayer this week about this lesson because we all can and probably have fallen into this trap.

See you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan




P.S. Last night was “Bowling Night” at Golden Lanes for the Ballinger Class and what a night! There were some true “Professionals” among us, some “closet” professionals, some “want-a-be” professionals, and then there was Grace – the surprise of the evening!

Below are the results from last night’s bowling extravaganza: