More Rebellion, More Instruction (Numbers 16-19)
Is it any surprise at this point in our story that the people rebel yet again? This is the running theme in history as it is recorded in the Old Testament. God, in mercy and grace, lays out a way in which His people can enjoy a relationship with Him, and they want a different way.
In Exodus, right after God tells them they are His people and that they should not make any statues or representations of Him, they build a golden calf. And this was within weeks of God’s power being demonstrated in Egypt. Here in Numbers, when they finally get to the promised land—and still in recent memory of the Exodus from Egypt with God’s great power demonstrated—they elect to go back to Egypt rather than face the Canaanites. Those are just the biggest rebellions. There are many more that we have seen. Unfortunately, they will be the running theme throughout scripture. At our core, we want to be our own god or worship anyone else of our own choosing, rather than follow our creator.
Here in chapter 16, we see Korah—along with some other leaders—who are offended that Moses has been chosen to lead. They think they should get to lead too, or at least have a higher position than they have been assigned. It is not even as if they had no responsibilities either. Korah belonged to the group of Levites with a very high and honorable responsibility. His coconspirators were leaders within their own tribe. They all think that they should be able to chose their own tasks.
As with the golden calf incident, the real tragedy is that they have convinced themselves that they want to do something for God. When Aaron crafted the calf, he told the people to worship it in honor of YHWH. Here, Korah and company want to participate in the worship of YHWH. The problem in both cases is that they want to serve God in their own desires and preferences, rather than submit those desires to God. They ought to worship God in the manner which He desires.
We see this throughout scripture. Our basic sin nature translates into “everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.” We see this still today. People often tell me, that they want to serve God—why would God give them a desire that was not in accordance with His will? Our problem is that our desires are just as likely if not more to be a product of our sin nature. We need to take all of our plans, wants, and desires to God and measure them against what we can know to be His will.
If we will, we will discover happiness and fulfillment that is in line with who we were created to be. If we don’t, we are destined to the frustration and despair of following the plans of a fallible god who does not know what is best, or even what it really wants most of the time!
In Exodus, right after God tells them they are His people and that they should not make any statues or representations of Him, they build a golden calf. And this was within weeks of God’s power being demonstrated in Egypt. Here in Numbers, when they finally get to the promised land—and still in recent memory of the Exodus from Egypt with God’s great power demonstrated—they elect to go back to Egypt rather than face the Canaanites. Those are just the biggest rebellions. There are many more that we have seen. Unfortunately, they will be the running theme throughout scripture. At our core, we want to be our own god or worship anyone else of our own choosing, rather than follow our creator.
Here in chapter 16, we see Korah—along with some other leaders—who are offended that Moses has been chosen to lead. They think they should get to lead too, or at least have a higher position than they have been assigned. It is not even as if they had no responsibilities either. Korah belonged to the group of Levites with a very high and honorable responsibility. His coconspirators were leaders within their own tribe. They all think that they should be able to chose their own tasks.
As with the golden calf incident, the real tragedy is that they have convinced themselves that they want to do something for God. When Aaron crafted the calf, he told the people to worship it in honor of YHWH. Here, Korah and company want to participate in the worship of YHWH. The problem in both cases is that they want to serve God in their own desires and preferences, rather than submit those desires to God. They ought to worship God in the manner which He desires.
We see this throughout scripture. Our basic sin nature translates into “everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.” We see this still today. People often tell me, that they want to serve God—why would God give them a desire that was not in accordance with His will? Our problem is that our desires are just as likely if not more to be a product of our sin nature. We need to take all of our plans, wants, and desires to God and measure them against what we can know to be His will.
If we will, we will discover happiness and fulfillment that is in line with who we were created to be. If we don’t, we are destined to the frustration and despair of following the plans of a fallible god who does not know what is best, or even what it really wants most of the time!
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