03- 06- 11 MI DAILY DEVOTION
FAITH AND POSITIVE THINKING
(Numbers 12:1- 9) 1- “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 2- And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. 3- (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) 4- And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out. 5- And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. 6- And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 7- My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 8- With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? 9- And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.”
When the Israelites were in need and were negative about their plans and their position as they were about to take the land, Joshua was positive and was strong in his stand for God and His Word. When Moses sent the spies to check on the condition of the land, Joshua was positive with Caleb standing with him. I believe Joshua took and used the positive side in the life of Moses the servant of the Lord. The Lord God defended Moses against Aaron, Miriam and the rebellious Israelites. He confronted them for Moses’ sake, but Joshua who was Moses’ assistant at that time was out of the picture. It means he was not a problem but the solution of the problem. He did not stand and rebel against the man of God. No wonder when the time has come for Moses to go…, God picked him (Joshua) up and turned over to him the baton. Joshua did not step over Moses’ head to get to the front line in the ministry, it was God who promoted him and gave him the baton of leadership and responsibility. In the book of (Numbers 13:1- 3) 1- “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2- Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. 3- And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.” And in the following verses, it shows how the people of Israel reacted on the news that they have heard from the spies. Verses 27- 33- “And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28- Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29- The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. 30- And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31- But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32- And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33- And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
