It's More Than Skin Deep.

In Sunday’s sermon Pastor Richie referenced the story of Miriam, who was stricken with leprosy for a week. She was stricken with leprosy as God’s public response to her private sin: a discussion she’d had with her brother Aaron, in which she instigated hateful speech against Moses.

Today, we live in a time where we can do wrong on the inside and still look great on the outside: instant manifestations of God's reprimand are rare nowadays. But as Pastor Richie shared, if God were to strike us today with leprosy as punishment for our sins, we’d all be lepers-- our God has been gracious to us, and He astounds us with His patient love. That said, though, we remain aware that our sins have consequences, and we appeal to our Lord to help us live in a way that is pleasing to Him. We seek His intervention and deliverance not because we want to avoid the embarrassment of being stricken with leprosy, but because we love our Lord and long to hear His commendation.

Numbers chapter 12 contains the account that our pastor mentioned. Let’s take time to read the entire chapter, keeping the following questions in mind:

v  Have I been harboring biases and ill will against the people of God—whether related to their families, their spiritual gifts, or the decisions they have made?

v  Have I been seeking to bring others into agreement with my private sins?

v  Have I asked God to forgive me and cleanse my heart from sin? 

Numbers 12

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. (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.

When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!”

The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.