TUESDAY 25 January 2022 “A Budding Staff” Numbers 17

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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

By the time we get to the end of January, at least in the northern hemisphere, in many parts of the world, this is now deep, winter, cold season. Very, very cold temperatures, which can last weeks below zero. Ice or snow on the ground, piling up and not melting for weeks or even months. Lakes and even rivers frozen so thick trucks and snowmobiles drive on them, and fish house communities crop up on them. Do you live in a place like that? I know when my wife and I did, we longed for springtime! Especially the first buds on the trees or first spring wheat or other farmer plantings in the fields.

There’s something really hopeful about the ‘spring thaw’ and those first buds of new life, isn’t there? In our journey with Moses may I invite you to join me in Numbers 17 today, and a very unusual ‘spring budding’ experience? In your understanding of God, can you imagine a time when God is simply fed up with His people and their mistrust of Him, their complaining, their grumbling? God instructed Moses to have one of the leaders of each of the 12 tribes each bring him one staff, representing all the people in that tribe. Most tribes were 200,000 people or more. God instructed Moses to write on each staff the name of the tribe it represented, including Aaron’s staff representing his tribe, the tribe of Levi. Then God said to Moses: “Place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the Testimony [the 10 Commandment tablets of stone] where I will meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid Myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites. (Numbers 17:1-5)

You see, my friends, since the day when these Hebrew slaves, and the others who came with them, had fled out of Egypt on that Passover night, following God’s cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, Moses had heard a continual rumbling of complaining, day and night. Perhaps you live in a city and so you understand the ‘din’, the never ending noise of the city, right? That’s how it was among these more than 1 million people, only the ‘din’ was not simply the noise of life, it was the constant chatter of complaint. On some occasions the complaining reached fever pitch, and turned into mutiny, a coup – d’état. On rare occasions the complaining was life threatening as some suggested Moses and Aaron should be killed and new leaders chosen who lead them back to Egypt. So once again God’s patience had run thin and He was going to make a clear statement about who the leaders were whom HE had chosen and who He would work with in leading this huge traveling city of complainers.

So how do you handle complaint, especially in your own family, those people you love? What is your response when your best efforts are not good enough for their expectations? Moses recorded what happened next this way: “The next day Moses entered the Tent of Meeting and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds!! Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at the staffs and each man took his own staff.” (Numbers 17:8,9) Look at them, leaders with scowls on their faces. What do you see in their eyes, and hear the murmuring under their breaths? Clearly a miracle has taken place here. An old walking stick has gone from worn out, beat up, to sprouting spring growth, buds, blossoms, and full grown almonds, ready to eat, in less than 24 hours!

There was no explanation other than God reached from His throne room in heaven to this Tent of Meeting in the desert, and picked out one particular staff. Then God awakened life in that old dead stick, and brought it through an entire growing season in a few hours! Oh, and all the other 11 sticks? Well they were simply old, worn out, walking sticks! Can you see each of those 11 leaders, one after another, picking up Aaron’s staff in their hand, running their fingers over the buds, the blossoms and the fruit. Then examining as closely as they could, shaking their head and passing it to the next leader. There was simply no logical, common sense, human explanation. Miracles have no explanation… except God’s work, right?!

So what now… was their thought and perhaps some of them were even courageous enough to ask the question. God answered the question: “The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against Me…’ Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.” (Numbers 17:10,11) Now we all know that seasons follow a consistent, predictable cycle. After the wonderful spring of fresh buds, comes the weeks of growth, and then the fall harvest, and then the winter deadness again. But here, God had a second great miracle to show them His mighty power. Aaron’s staff would REMAIN fresh and green. It would not follow the normal cycle. And it was to be kept in the “Tent of Meeting” so anytime Moses or Aaron could bring it out to show the people God was sustaining His selection of leaders. And His commitment to lead them, and the people, according to what God knew was best for them, as evidenced by Aaron’s budding staff, year round!

Now watch something important here my friends. The budding old staff was a picture of God’s love for these people despite their grumbling, their complaining, even their rebellion. Their manna each morning, the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, were all evidence of God’s presence and provision. BUT, the cloud led them in wandering around a hot desert for 40 years, as they lived out the consequences of their rebellion against God and their refusal to follow Him into the land of promise. Do you see the remarkable balance of mercy, grace and justice? Day after day they suffered the consequences of their rebellion, their complaining, their rejection of God. But day after day God provided what they needed and couldn’t provide for themselves… the essentials of life: food, water, air in their lungs, clear minds to think.

So let’s pause here my friends. Let’s look closely at our lives. How is God proving daily His faithfulness to His promises, His character, His nature, as He provides to all of us what we can’t provide for ourselves? And how is God extending grace and mercy to us each day as so much of the rhetoric of our world is complaint against God or outright rejection of Him? I invite us to THANK God today, for how incredibly patient and merciful to us He is, despite our selfish complaining and too frequent rebellion. As we reflect, here’s a wonderful song to help us express our humble thanks to our merciful God.

Oh thank God for your patience, Your mercy, Your grace, Your love. And thank You that you call us to understand how dependent and reliant we are upon You. Help us, O God, to see those roots of complaining that well up in us… and Your faithfulness.

Today’s Scripture is Numbers 17.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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