Today's Favorite Verse: Numbers 12:6, 8-9

Today's Favorite Verse: Numbers 12:6, 8-9

"And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed."

Moses' siblings Aaron and Miriam speak against Moses for marrying an Ethiopian women. Then they boldly state not only did the Lord speak to Moses but he also has spoken through them. The Lord hears this and commands Moses, Aaron and Miriam to come to the tabernacle and there he speaks to them. He teaches Aaron and Miriam that the prophet is the one whom he speaks through. That they are not to speak against His chosen prophet. He is displeased and departs from them. Then it is discovered that Miriam was left with leprosy. Moses asks the Lord to heal her, but he is told she must be shut out of the camp for seven days before she can be received again.

I pondered on the seriousness of speaking against the Lord's prophet. I would not want the Lord's anger against me. I would not want His spirit to be departed from me. I know this didn't just happen in Moses time, but it happens today. I may not see leprosy, but I have seen beauty leave a person when they have turned their back on the Lord. Something is taken from the countenance of the person. A something that was capable of making the homeliest of people's pleasant to look upon, for goodness radiated from them. There is a physical difference when the spirit of the Lord has departed from a person. 

Day 704