Numbers 12:6-8 English Standard Version

6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Matthew 20:22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”

This is a cautionary tale about being careful about what we think and what we say.

A little context is required surrounding the issues in Numbers 12. Aaron and Miriam did not like it that Moses married a Cushite woman. When they confronted Moses it had nothing to do with his marriage, they said “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” There is an accusation there which has nothing to do with his marriage. Instead they invoke self-pride, elevating their own position.

In the present church age we have servants that are faithful to God and are used by God and to us they make it look so easy. It looks so easy at times some of us think “I can do that!”

In the passage in Matthew 20 Jesus warns John and James, those sons of thunder, that their mother asks for a blessing that involves much more than granting a favor. John and James think they are ready even though they have no idea what is about to happen to Jesus.

We honor men for their service but we do not see what they had to go through to get there. Many of them have had their lives torn apart, broken down and then reshaped into useful instruments for God’s service.

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.”

An earnest desire for a higher gift doesn’t come with the knowledge of what is required of us to attain that level of faithful service.

It is like being dragged through the mud just so God gets the honor of cleaning us up.

Be careful what you ask for because Miriam was given leprosy in Numbers 12:10 before she was made clean.

Exodus 23:10-12 English Standard Version

Laws About the Sabbath and Festivals

10 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.

12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

“The Holy One, blessed be He, created seven ages, and of them all He chose the seventh age only, the six ages are for the going in and coming out (of God’s creatures) for war and peace. The seventh age is entirely Sabbath and rest in the life everlasting.” – Rabbi Eliezer

The seven festivals or feasts in the Jewish sacred calendar are integral to understanding the theme of the seventh-day rest in the Bible. These feasts have symbolic meaning connecting back to the creation account in Genesis and the story of the Exodus. They are meant to act as a way to remember and teach. (The Bible Project)

In the Jewish tradition there appears the creation of traditions by God for all mankind or otherwise God would not have included slaves and aliens in the tradition of Shabbat.

As we noted yesterday man creates their own traditions for reasons long forgotten as to the source and reasons. Today in America we hold certain traditions and create new ones in the same way for the same reason. We need not list them to know them.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Some are godly, some are not. Some are God centered and over time reduced to secular celebrations that seek to forget those origins. I need not name those either.

This is not said to condemn anyone for how and why they keep traditions, only that we are clear on why we celebrate them. What we teach our children may last or not. Each generation has a responsibility to examine their own heart as to why.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Tradition!