March 11

Numbers 15:17-16:40, Mark 15:1-47, Psalm 54:1-7, Proverbs 11:5-6

Pray: Father, help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak…even slower to anger. Remind me to offer praise before I venture out with correction. And help me to stop rebellion in its tracks by talking things over with You before getting on a soap box and shouting my dissatisfaction to others.

Read: We see a full blown rebellion against God and God’s man, Moses, starting in Numbers 11:16. Korah, a leader in Israel, conspired with two other leaders, Dathan and Abiram, to rebel. In a nutshell, they thought Moses was acting “too big for his britches”. 250 other leaders rebelled as well. They approached their leader, Moses, by saying, “We are as spiritual as you…and just who do you think you are anyway?" There are very few things as dangerous as ambition without humility. Korah wanted power. And he thought he would better handle power than Moses. The next day there was a contest.

Would God accept Moses’ offering or Korah’s offering? We know the story. The ground opened up and swallowed Korah and his fellow 250 leaders. Moses, although not perfect, was God’s man. God puts spiritual authorities in our lives. Although not perfect, they are nonetheless sent to us from God. We need to know that. And we need to be very careful in how we respond to authority.

Edify: In Mark 15:21 a passerby named Simon was coming in from the countryside, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. Simon did not wake up early that morning and say to himself, “Today, I have a date with history.” The scripture declares that Simon was forced by soldiers to carry the cross. Why Simon? Why not someone else? Was Simon barrel chested and strong? We don’t know. All we know was that he was forced to carry the cross. This much I do know. Simon had a date with history. What he did that day would be talked about throughout the ages. We, too, have a place to be and things to do each day.

Practice: Start each day by simply saying, God, I want to be at the right place at the right time with the right people today. If there is a cross that I must bear…so be it. Help me to understand that You are at work. I'm not at this point in time by accident. Help me be Your vessel today.