Fri.’s Devo - The Trials of Leadership

Read: Numbers 11:24-13:33; Mark 14:22-52; Psalm 52:1-9; Proverbs 11:1-3
The children of Israel were not satisfied with the manna from heaven so they craved meat. Their constant complaining and entitlement was wearing on Moses so God told him to appoint 70 men to help carry the load of all the administration. The Lord came down in a cloud and put his spirit on these men and they prophesied. Two of the men that were to be of the 70 prophesied in the camp and were reported to Moses. The meanings of the names of the men were “God has loved” and “loving and affectionate”. These men were the first evangelists that took the Word out of the area of the Tabernacle out to the people. They were a prototype of what was to come.
Sure enough, the quail came and everyone gathered at least 30 bushels of quail. God was so angry that they would crave other food than his that he sent a plague that killed many of them.
Miriam and Aaron started gossiping about Moses because he had married a Cushite wife. They were really jealous of his leadership and looking for an excuse to taint his name. God rebuked them sternly and stood up for Moses and his name. Miriam was struck with leprosy. It was Moses that interceded with the Lord on her behalf and got her leprosy reduced to seven days. This is God’s word to us not to speak against his leadership even if we don’t agree with their lifestyle. It is God that put them there and it will be God that removes them.
God told Moses to send out 12 spies, one from each tribe to scout out the promised land of Canaan. It was to be a test of their faith and ten of them failed. They could only see the giants in the land which overshadowed all the good of the land. Joshua and Caleb saw the goodness of the land. They believed they could conquer the giants.
In Mark, Jesus had his last supper with his disciples. He told them the prophesy about how the shepherd would be struck down and all the sheep would be scattered. They couldn’t believe it.
After eating, they followed Jesus to the place called Gethsemane and Jesus prayed about what was about to happen. He had to wake his disciples three times to keep them awake and praying. Judas came with a battalion of Roman soldiers. With them were the chief priests, teachers of the law and the elders. The shepherd was taken and the sheep scattered.
A “watcher” was there from heaven wearing a linen garment. He left naked because they seized him by his garment. He was a picture of how the disciples were left - naked and exposed without their covering.
Lord, help us to be humble, always looking for the truth.