Hero or Villain

If you have spent any time around church I’m sure you have heard of a guy named Moses. Moses was THE answer to most questions in the Old Testament. In fact, a lot of people thought he was the closest thing anyone had seen to Jesus before Jesus! He delivered the people of God from the slavery they were under in Egypt. He regularly placed himself between the people and God to ask for God’s grace and mercy when the people messed up.But as we have learned, no one is as perfect as they first seem. Let’s get some back story on Moses.

Events surrounding Moses birth

Rescue from the river

Wandering in Wilderness

Call

Return to Egypt

Leading into wilderness

7. Golden calf incident

As you can see, Moses and God and God’s people Israel have gone around and around and around for a while. This finally culminates in a story we will look at tonight that really shows the tension on loving and leading people with God.

Numbers 11:1–3 NLT

Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped. After that, the area was known as Taberah (which means “the place of burning”), because fire from the Lord had burned among them there.

Nothing super crazy about that right? A fire comes into the camp, people are dying, call out to God to stop it. Seems like a natural response right? But then they do what all of us have done so many times....

Numbers 11:10–15 NLT

Moses heard all the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining, and the Lord became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated. And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”

Moses felt what we as Christians often refer to as a “burden.” He was so close with God that he felt God’s heart. Moses heart was breaking for the people at a level that he could barely physically handle. He asked God to kill him if this was going to be the rest of his life. He couldn’t keep going on loving and serving and pouring out to a people that kept complaining. Moses would have rather died than disappoint these people. So he went to God and asked God to kill him!

Have you ever been there? Have you ever been to the point where you care about a person, or a group of people, so much that you can barely handle the weight of the emotions? They are running from you, from God, but your heart still breaks for them? If you haven’t, ask God for His heart. Tell God that you want your heart to break for the same thing His heart breaks for.

We have to get beyond how people treat us and realize we are all made in the image of God. Beautiful and broken.