Showers of Blessing - Flawed Families
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 (Numbers 12:1-2).
Our Father, from the beginning family has been a part of Your great design for humanity. You declared, "It is not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18), so You created woman, and You gave humans the ability to reproduce in their likeness (Genesis 5:3), just as You had created them in the likeness of God (Genesis 5:1).
Lord, although family became flawed when sin entered the world through human disobedience, You have used family—natural and spiritual—to carry out Your plan—to accomplish Your great purpose.
You used the family of Moses as You delivered Your people from bondage and led them forward to all You had promised. In Your wisdom, You placed Miriam and Aaron in critical roles to support Moses, knowing the heavy responsibility he would shoulder in execution of Your plan. But we see them critical of Moses—because of his Cushite (Ethiopian) wife—and envious of his role as leader of the people (Numbers 12:1-2).
We see in Miriam and Aaron the insidious ways that destructive thoughts and sentiments can creep into the dynamics of natural or spiritual families. We see how envy and jealousy, gossip and slander, pride and prejudice, can threaten relationships and break long-standing bonds.
Help us Lord! Teach us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). Help us to embrace the roles You assign us, whether in leadership, or in support of each other. Your word tells us that Christ Himself... equips His people for works of service (Ephesians 4:11-12). You have shown us from the example of Miriam and Aaron that You are greatly displeased with the pride that challenges Your dispensation (Numbers 12:4-14).
Deliver us from the evils of malice and envy, gossip and slander, strife and contention. Teach us to be grateful in place of grumbling. Teach us to pray in place of criticizing. Teach us to build up in place of tearing down. Keep us mindful that we too, are flawed.
Lord, You know all the scars, the wounds and the dysfunctions in our families. But help us to take to heart the apostle Paul's teaching, If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18). In all the frustrations and failings, help us not to take our families for granted, or to focus on their flaws, and overlook the showers of blessing they bring into our lives.
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