Numbers 11:16-35 THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY The defeats and failures of God's people in the Old Testament are not detailed in the New Testament but Moses wrote about them, and in his own writing he details the difficulties he had himself with accuracy. "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" [1Cor.10:11]. What was behind the uncharacteristic outburst of anger from Moses? In the very best of God's people, wilderness living and pressures from brethren can trip us up and bring out what is inside us. None of us are exempt from failure and our only source of strength and the needed wisdom to guide others properly, is God Himself. It may be when we least expect it that the world, flesh and/or the devil will attack us. We can never allow our fellowship with God to wane and cool.
When God in His sovereign plans for His people puts a person in a place of leadership or responsibility of any kind, He fits the person for the job. He gives the needed grace to occupy the position and make appropriate decisions that have to be made - sometimes quickly. But we are still creatures of the flesh and it is possible for us to get our eyes off of God's sufficiency and on our own natural insufficiency. "It is God who worketh in you, to will and to do of His good pleasure."
Even with an illustrious man like Moses, or Elijah, or David for that matter, there is still the human tendency to take upon ourselves the work that God intends to do through us as a channel of blessing from Him to others. If the time comes when we think too much is expected of us, we need to be reminded of the fact that God is going to accomplish His purposes, either through us or someone else. The seventy men chosen to assist Moses did not increase the spiritual power needed to lead the people of God, but divided it in seventy ways. Moses was no longer pressured with the weight of his responsibility of being God's only vessel for the needed leadership.
The best of men can lose the power and balance that robust faith provides when we lose sight of what God is doing in us and through us. When we try to limit God or to make Him fit in the small box of our expectations, our manipulative flesh deceives us. God knows far better than we do what we need. But if we are dissatisfied with God and His provision, He has ways of teaching us not only by what we get for our complaining, but by showing us in any necessary way who He is. All our resources are in God. Moses' unbelief and questioning of God, teaches us that we are never exempt from the consequences of the lack of faith. Faith has to be nurtured. That is why we have history to remind us of how God has worked in the past, and that He is in control of the present and the future. To recall in our memories what God has done, strengthens our faith in regards to what God is able and willing to do yet.
The Spirit that was on Moses and used him to fulfill the work God gave him, now came also on those seventy men who were called upon to minister to the needs of the people. The Holy Spirit still empowers and guides us today to fulfill our responsibility. He knows what people need and who can be trusted to meet those needs. Self-confidence can be a hindrance to the work of the Spirit of God. He is grieved when we assume our knowledge of an event or a need is equal to that of the omniscient God. He is quenched when we step in to do what God has reserved for Himself. There is great value when one has learned to lean in full confidence on God for the appropriate response to what God is doing and use our God-given ability to do what is God's will.
Other men now gave evidence of God's willingness to use them. The grace and humility of Moses to do God's will was now passed on to others. Moses was not filled with envy when he realized God was using others to do work he did himself previously. By God's grace we can rejoice with any person God chooses to use in His service, and can be thankful for who they are and what they do. What we are unable to do or unwilling to do, will not go undone because of our complaints of overwork. The spirit of grace and humility in one's heart has to be cultivated in order for our service to be acceptable. When the Spirit of God works in us, there is given grace to do what we are called to do, and rejoice without pretense for what others are doing in their service for God. Narrow-minded self-centeredness is a great barrier to finding our joy in God and His blessings.
The children of Israel got their meat alright! Their self-interest and complaining brought death, fulfilled their lust for meat and brought on the judgment of God. When we turn our hearts and eyes toward the world for our satisfaction, we may get what we want, and also the consequences that go with it. The warning lesson is for us to be grateful for what God has given us. Leanness in the soul comes from feeding on that for which the flesh craves. The Lord is our portion! What He chooses to provide is what we need. When the lust of the flesh seems to have satisfied us until we find ourselves glutted, the very thing that we wanted can bring us down in disgust, despair and perhaps even death. "Satisfied with Thee, Lord Jesus, I am blest!"