Is Lord's Hand Shortened In 2026? Series

01.01.2026 AMC

NEW YEAR SERMON

Number 11:18-23 - Is the Lord's hand shortened?

Greetings: The Lord is good; and His Love endures forever!

Happy New Year 2026!

Introduction: Tonight, I would like to introduce the theme for the year with a promise in the forms of a question. Is the Lord's hand shortened? This is the question posed to Moses by The Almighty God.

Why God has to tell Moses about His Character, about His Power, about His Omnipotence. When God talked about his power to The Egyptian King Pharaoh it is understood, to the kings of Babylon it’s understood, to the kings of Syria and Assyria it’s understood but why to Moses.

Moses was not an ordinary person, not an unbeliever, not a traditional Servant of God. Moses was a Holy Man, an Honest Man, an Humble man, and a Meek Man throughout the earth no one was compared to him while he was on the earth (Numbers 12:3). He was a Prophet of God, a Man of God, and a Servant of God who had enjoyed inexpressible intimacy with God, he was more closer to Yahweh than any man lived on the earth during his generation.

YHWH told Aaron and Miriam about Moses: “Listen to my words:“When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, 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, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:6-8).

Then why this question to MOSES?

Let me bring out briefly the larger and immediate context of this Question of God. The larger context is that the Children of Israel were the children of Abraham, Children by the promise of God, and they were in slavery for about 420 years in Egypt. They were redeemed by YHWH with His an outreached arm and wonders through ten plagues.  They had crossed the Red sea, had seen miracles after miracles after miracles from day one of their redemption. They had the grace to witness the presence of God (Numbers 11:35-36). But now, on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year of Exodus, within two years of redemption, the sojourners complained against this God, cried and cursed God and Moses, they yelled at Moses and at God for bringing them out of Egypt. All for food, they didn’t eat to live, they lived to eat.

The immediate context of this question is Moses was facing problems in the family circle, among the relatives and Jealousy colleagues. Before the question of the Lord, the initial general complaints of Israel (Numbers 11:1–3), the complaints about food (vv. 4–9), Moses’ own complaint to the LORD (vv. 10–15), After the question, the zealous of Eldad and Medad (Numbers 11:26–29), and the rain of quails (vv. 30–35) are recorded.

Tonight, let us think about this great and wonderful God and the future events of your lives. Three things let me leave with you:

* Trust in the Lord and not grieve Him - Numbers 11:1-9;

Trust in the Lord and not Question Him (Numbers

11:11-17); Trust in the Lord and not Underestimate Him (Numbers 11:18-23).

Trust in the Lord and not grieve Him - Numbers 11:1-9

We read in numbers:

‘The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”’ (Numbers 11:4-6).

“Why did we ever leave Egypt?” (Numbers 11:20). Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents (Numbers 11:10). The Lord was sad, displeased and grieved.

In Exodus 12:38 we read that there was a Mixed multitude joined the Israelites when they left Egypt. The Hebrew word for multitude is rab meaning "great," "many," or "large."

In the Targum the phrase is vaguely rendered "many foreigners" and as "a medley of outlandish people", as 'strangers' and 'proselytes.' They are varied groups of forced labourers, people of different origins, seized the moment and left Egypt with the Israelites.

According to Ibn Ezra, Jewish Rabbi, these were the people from the bottom of Egypt's social strata who took the opportunity to escape from their fate. After seeing the series of miracles that God performed in Egypt, many locals, Egyptians, and others, decided to leave with the Israelites and joined them. (Exodus 12:37, Numbers 1:46) showing that Israel obviously consisted of many non-biological Jews who had joined. Including the wife of Moses, a Midianite (Exodus 2:16-21). Rahab was a Canaanite (Joshua 2:1, 2).