Sometimes the right decisions are the easiest to see and the most difficult to make. In the case of Korah’s rebellion, many of the people at that time recognized the ease of making the right decision. The person who understood and saw God’s impending judgment knew that the only proper solution was the one offered by the Lord—separate from the tents of the rebels. The proper solution was also quite easy to perform. However, there were many family members of these men involved in the rebellion who had to make a difficult choice. The solution was made known unto them, the details were clear, but their choices were not easy. Why? The right decision involved walking away from a father and family whom they may have loved dearly. According to the psalms, at least some of the sons of Korah chose to do the right thing and separate from their family.
Most men have no trouble creating and recognizing the trouble they have created but often experience great difficulty in finding any necessary solutions. In the wilderness, the children of Israel readily identified problems, but rarely, if ever, offered suitable solutions for these problems. Their expectation was that someone else could provide the solutions so long as they found satisfaction in complaining. Even today, this scenario repeats itself in businesses, churches, and family lives. People can complain about problems and often lack the ambition or the wherewithal for finding any lasting solutions. The average person finds enjoyment in expressing his complaints but leaves the solutions to others. This has greatly troubled the workplace, the home, the church, and every nation.
As the people had honoured the Lord, they had honoured Moses. When Moses placed his honour upon Joshua, he did so in order to encourage the people’s obedience and loyalty toward Joshua. Moses wanted the same loyalty that had been directed toward him now directed toward Joshua. God’s people could have risen up against Joshua thinking that he had not accomplished enough to merit their loyalty. Yet, the people respected the fact that Moses had directly placed his own honour upon his minister Joshua. The people emphatically accepted Moses’ message as reflected by their answer to Joshua: “According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses” (Joshua 1:17).
Man’s loyalty must be first and foremost directed toward the Lord; however, an aspect of one’s loyalty to the Lord also involves a certain loyalty toward man. At times, these loyalties might conflict. During those instances, each person should heed the words of Simon Peter when he admonished, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). When one’s loyalty to God does not conflict with any loyalty toward man, the Lord admonishes men to be loyal toward one another. When Moses placed his honour upon Joshua, he did so in order to encourage obedience, respect, and loyalty on the part of the people of God. In similar fashion, the Lord has crowned man with glory and honour (Psalm 8:5). As such, the Lord has naturally put within man a desire to be loyal toward the Lord and others.
Sometimes the Bible conveys some disheartening truths including man’s inability to love the Lord during difficult times. Regrettably, believers are easily offended and sometimes even scattered from the Lord because of a lack of resolve. The Lord prophesied in Zechariah 13:7 concerning His followers’ reaction to His rejection. Though the Lord knows the future, consider how this rejection must have grieved Him when it actually transpired. At a time when any faithful disciple should have been loyal to his Master, those closest to the Lord were instead scattered. The One that fed them when they were hungry (Mark 6:35-44), healed family members when ill (Mark 1:29-31), calmed the troubled waters during the storms (Mark 4:37-41), and taught them many wonderful truths was now the cause of their offence.
As the apostle Paul boldly preached the word of God, his most receptive audience consisted of the common people. Both Jews and Gentiles were intrigued by his message and desired to hear more. From week to week, the numbers continued to grow. The multitudes simply wanted to hear what this former blasphemer had to say about the faith he had once sought to exterminate. As the fame of Paul’s message increased, so did the opposition from the religious leaders of his day. The success of the gospel message caused many of the Jews to be filled with envy. They began contradicting and blaspheming Paul’s message. When their efforts failed to hinder the message, they stirred up the people in the cities against the truth. These groups began to assault the believers (Acts 17:1-9).
For a variety of reasons, people do the things they choose to do. Sometimes their motives are right and godly, and at other times, their motives are simply wrong. The motive should never result from strife or vainglory in the Lord’s service. The Lord Jesus Christ, of course, offers the perfect example of someone whose motives were always pure and holy. People often assumed the worst and said untrue things about Him. He certainly had the right and the wherewithal each and every time to correct their errors. He could have won any and every argument without mercy or grace. Yet, His service was not motivated by selfishness or pride. In fact, the Bible points out that He was equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation (Philippians 2:6-7). He knew He was always right but allowed Himself to be defamed for the greater cause.
When a loved one passes away, mourning serves as an important part of the healing process. However, believers should never sorrow in the same fashion as the world (1 Thessalonians 4:13), yet mourning is acceptable and proper when grieving the death of someone. In Bible times, people seemed to take mourning very seriously. In fact, the initial mourning period at times was quite lengthy (Genesis 50:3; Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8). There were even people whose purpose it was to assist in the mourning of those departed (Jeremiah 9:17). Grieving is a natural part of man’s process in dealing with the loss of loved ones. Failure to give time to properly mourn often prolongs the process and hinders the individual from dealing with the loss.
Food is a necessity for sustaining life. Interestingly, the Bible records several instances where a man’s need for food became a source of great temptation. For instance, Esau was willing to sell his birthright because he considered one meal more valuable than his future inheritance. The Bible also records several instances where the children of Israel allowed their desire for food to incite rebellion against the Lord (Numbers 11:4-6). Another very important example of appetite involves the earliest narratives recorded in Genesis involving an overwhelming appetite. In the garden, Eve partook of the forbidden fruit when she “saw that the tree was good for food” (Genesis 3:6). Due to the many examples of inordinate appetite leading to sin, it comes as no surprise that the Devil first sought to tempt the Lord by commanding stones to be made bread (Luke 4:3) after He had fasted for forty days.
This life offers only a window of time and opportunity to work for the Lord. Youthfulness and old age both offer their own hindrances to service. In many ways, though not entirely, youth should be spent in learning, middle age in doing, and old age in teaching those who are learning and doing. Many of the greatest servants of the Lord found in scripture began their journey in youth by learning of the Lord and His ways (1 Kings 18:12; Psalm 71:5; 2 Chronicles 34:3; Job 29:4; Ecclesiastes 12:1). As they approached the prime of life, they invested their learning by serving the Lord (Numbers 8:24-25). As they passed their prime, they would pass their knowledge on to the next generation in hopes of the Lord’s work continuing and flourishing (2 Timothy 4:1-8)..
