Training for the future

Scripture Reading: Numbers 11:4-15

Key Verse: ...the Israelis began wailing and cried, If only we had meat to eat (Numbers 11:4)

Meditation: God meticulously prepared Moses for his future leadership role. Although the needs of the suffering Israeli slaves appeared to be great, God did not hurry to graduate Moses from this university of the desert. For Moses to fail this second time would be to court disaster, so God kept him on the divine curriculum made just of him. Since God had the vantage point of seeing the future. He knew both what Moses still needed to relearn and what he needed to learn for the first time.

Formerly, Moses had worked with the elite. Now he needed to learn to  relate to common people with out a sense of superiority. The people would quickly perceive false humility. Moses learned genuine humility by going from the palace to the bleak pastures of Midian for 40 years. 

He also learned to practice service in the desert, understand the travel routes and the watering places and shade trees. For the care of two million people, (or 20,000) his preparations had to be all encompassing. 

During this 40 year gift of solitude, Moses learning to communicate with God, enabling him to find inner strength he would need for his  future responsibility. On the way to the Promised Land deaths and funerals and detours awaited him. Dealing with people with selective memories and who would recall only the good times of Egypt and murmuring and complaining would test his patience. Finally, Moses would have to accept God's decision to prohibit him form entering the Promised Land personally even after 40 years. 

Thought for the Day: God's ultimate purpose of our training today is to teach us to be completely dependent on Him for a future assignment that we do not yet fully understand.