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Two Ways To Snow White; Only One Is Blood Red! Series
Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: The challange of Miriam and Aaron to the authority of Moses. Sibling rivalry or something deeper? How do we see our shame and disgrace as a spiritual dis-ease or an opportunity to be washed clean through the grace of God?
Thereâs some thing about people who end up famous that we somehow know or perhaps know or went to school with, people who do something amazing and all of a sudden everyone knows about them. This may be hard to believe but I have meet a few famous people, I used to live next door to a couple called Arthur and May OâNeill and their daughter was a singer, yip Sharon OâNeill, I have meet Sharon OâNeill.
Not that long ago I was talking to a local lady about a hall booking and it turns out sheâs got a daughter whose a singer also her name was Jill Westenra yes sheâs Hayleyâs mum, talk about two degrees of separation. But then thereâs that time not long ago I meet the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition both on the same day as part of the earthquake response.
The interesting thing is that these people all have Mumâs and Dadâs and likely have siblings who just see them as Sharon, or Hayley or John and Phil.
Who probably just ring them up occasionally and talk to them about what their weeks been like or how it was that they were on the âteleâ, and did you know that your nephew Jeff has just had chicken pox and what about Aunty Ann having a stroke but did you know sheâs doing okay now.
You see even famous people are able in most cases to relate to someone, but there can be an issue arise with this, thatâs if their nearest and dearest donât understand just how special their sibling or child is. Our maybe there was a case of the old green eyed monster and no matter how successful and clever they are family try to thwart their attempts at success. If Mr and Mrs OâNeill had told Sharon she would be better of putting her efforts into a gardening apprenticeship, we wouldnât have had the music for the film âSmash Palaceâ or Haleyâs siblings told her everyone could sing as well as she could, the album âPrueâ would never have happened. Or Phil and Johns folks told them they had delusions of grandeur and to get off their high horses, we might have just ended up with a couple of blokes who bored everyone around them silly with their talk about politics.
The truth is that while we are all special and are seen to have an equal weighting in the eyes of God, some people are just âoutstandingâ in some aspect, itâs what makes them stand out, why we give them the lead or pay to hear them perform.
There are times also when especially gifted individuals stand out leading spiritually, God so empowers them with his Holy Spirit that they stand out on his behalf.
In the church we have a five fold ministry established by the Holy Spirit of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers whose roles are there to âPrepare Godâs people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.â (Ephesians 4:12-13)
Funny that I find my self in the teacher role, with a few notable exceptions I used to despise teachers at school. One of my favourite jokes was: Whatâs the difference between God and School Teachers, (Answer) God doesnât walk around all day thinking heâs a teacher!
Now one of the warty great people I talked about last month was Moses one of the greatest, a mighty prophet also. The truth is that Moses was a great leader but he was not always flavour of the month, and even his siblings, who probably should have known better grumbled about him. We have this from Numbers 12, (Read Numbers 12.)
You see what had happened here was dear old Miriam had got her nose out of joint and it appears if the commentators are right, she ear bashed Aaron about Moses marrying that Cushite woman, a Cushite being an East African likely an Ethiopian. There was nothing wrong about this marriage in Godâs eyes, as Cushiteâs were not named as peoples that the Israelites were not to marry. Itâs thought that Mrs Moses likely took a fair amount of Moses attention, and was there to listen and give suggestions as any worthy wife would, perhaps Miriam didnât get to have the opportunityâs to talk with Moses like she did before this marriage, and that her loyalty card at the Nomad CafĂ© hadnât been stamped for some time.
Then Aaron and Miriam spoke about how God had spoken through them also and really started to down play the relationship of Moses with God and Moses leadership of Israel.