Numbers 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.
Envy and pride stirs gossip and slander. Jealousy is a covetous spirit and pride belittles others with an ‘I’m better than you’ attitude. Both are ugly vices that open the door for the enemy. Envy and pride are self destructive ‘suicide bombs’. It harms and hurts others but will most certainly destroy the person fostering it. Both envy and pride are insinuations from hell and open the door for the demons to barrage, forage and ravage.
The elder sister and brother of Moses were puffed with pride and jealousy and started slurring about their baby brother Moses, the greatest leader of the Old Testament. They witnessed the Lord God using Moses to stand before the most powerful man Pharaoh with just a stick in his hands and deliver ½ a million people from slavery. They saw the Red Sea split as Moses held the staff over the waters. They envied the Lord communing with Moses on the fiery mountain and Moses coming down with the glory of God and chose to smear their brother. The brutal combination of envy and pride results in cruelty. The Lord reprimanded Miriam and Aaron immediately and Miriam left the Lord’s presence leprous.
Leprosy in the body is the closest analogy of what slander does to the soul. In the New Testament days, even though there are no open wounds on the body, the soul of an envious and prideful person is leprous. In ancient times when there was no cure to leprosy, a leper would witness his body parts decay and fall. The first indication starts by loss of sensation in their fingertips. Similarly, envy and pride will make the heart insensitive to the voice and warning of God.
Beware of envy and pride:
1. Listen: Who and what we listen to will entangle us with wicked vices. Discernment is to analyze a mistake and learn from the errors of others but being judgemental is to defame and degrade. The envious and proud justify gossip as discernment.
2. Litter: Any information that is not going to edify, build or educate us occupies unnecessary space in our memory box and is ‘litter’. Declutter and reorganize your brain with rich, invigorating and insightful information.
3. Lever: Envy and pride becomes the lever that the demonic realm uses to enter into our lives. Miriam was the worship leader and Aaron was the first High Priest yet, they dared to slander out of envy. Gossip is ignited by jealousy and fueled by pride.
Discernment is analyzing right from wrong and learning from the mistakes of others. Disparagement is gossiping about the mistakes of others with the intention of defaming them. Gossip opens the door to the devil.
Numbers 12:8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he (Moses) sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
Prayer: Father God, help me to be sensitive to shut my ears to gossip. May there be no trace of envy or pride found in me. Amen.
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