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27 A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' aide since youth, spoke up and said, "Moses, my lord, stop them!"
29 But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" Numbers11:27-29
This very important interlude takes place at a time when God tells Moses to gather and appoint leaders who can share some of the load in terms of hearing from and speaking for God.
The elders who are with Moses are filled with the Spirit and begin to prophesy, but there are two elders who had not been summoned but who had been chosen by God and so, even though they are not with Moses they begin to prophesy in the camp.
This causes consternation and people come running to Joshua who is Moses trusted aide.
Joshua's response is so typical:
- "this is out of our control."
- "we didn't authorise or sanction this."
- "it threatens our control over the situation."
- "who do they think they are?"
- "just imagine the kinds of precedents this will set!"
"STOP THEM!"
Unfortunately these attitudes are very present in the church and particularly amongst the clergy...
But Moses shows incredible wisdom, maturity and humility.
He is no empire-builder
-He's not a control-freak
-He doesn't need to be the centre of attention
-He is genuinely glad to see other people being used by and for God.
Moses has Kingdom-Vision: He is interested in God's Glory and the growth and development of God's people.
We can learn from his example.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
