She was done! No more playing second fiddle. No more living in the shadow. It was time to assert herself. She was Moses’ big sister . . . probably the one who had followed him as a baby as he floated down the river into the hands of Pharaoh’s daughters . . . watching from afar as he grew up and gained prominence in Egypt . . . wandering where he was during those 40 years he was in exile . . . rejoicing and leading worship after their deliverance from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea . . . privileged of God as a prophetess, God making Himself known to her in visions and dreams. But now, it seems she wanted more . . . she sought some of her brother’s spotlight . . . “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” (Numbers 12:2). Not a good move on her part . . . can anyone say, “Bad skin day!” (12:10, 15)

But it provides a forum for us to hear God’s testimony concerning Moses . . . three things the LORD declares in defense of “my servant Moses” (12:7, 8).

“The man Moses was very meek” (12:3). Given that all Scripture is God-breathed (2Tim. 3:16) . . . and that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2Pet. 1:21) . . . this self-assessment, made by Moses, I take to be an attribute highlighted by God. Moses was a humble man . . . he was a lowly man . . . he was “gentle in mind.” Give him a personality test, and he’d be the guy happy to stay at home . . . maybe an introvert at heart . . . not seeking out a stage . . . not one to say, “Look at me!” Just the kind of guy God wanted (though it took a bit of coaxing to get him out of his comfort zone) . . . a courageous heart ready to respond in obedience . . . but a meek and gentle spirit . . . that the glory might be God’s alone.

“He is faithful in all My house” (12:7). God could count on Moses. He was a faithful steward . . . his heart tuned to the things of the LORD . . . taking seriously his role as God’s mouthpiece to God’s people . . . jealous for the reputation of the LORD, interceding for the people in their failure, that the Name of the Lord would not be disparaged. So God gave him the “run of the house.” It’s what happens with a faithful servant . . . they are faithful with the little initially entrusted to them, and are then given greater responsibilities . . . provided deeper access to the presence of the master . . . allowed more intimate contact with all aspects of his domain. Moses trusted the Lord and, in turn, was entrusted by the Lord.

“He beholds the form of the Lord” (12:8). A lowly spirit . . . a faithful servant’s heart . . . key factors, I think, making way for the privilege of intimate interaction with the living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Moses, above all things, desired the presence of the Lord . . . his passion was to behold God’s glory . . . and God, graciously invited him into deep and up-close communion. With Moses, God spoke “mouth to mouth” (ESV) . . . God conversed “face to face” (NKJV). The words were clear . . . not muddled in riddles. The conversations had moved from talking to a mysterious burning bush, to beholding the likeness of God . . . to interacting with some form of representation of the Almighty . . . to going one-on-one with the very presence of the Holy One of Israel.

Oh, that I would be less like Miriam and more like Moses.

That I would not seek the limelight . . . that I would not despise those called of God to a more public and acknowledged ministry . . . that I would not demand that which God has not given.

But instead, that self would be secondary . . . that I might be found faithful, with whatever my charge, as an entrusted servant . . . and that, by His grace and through the Spirit, I might behold the form of God, knowing intimate communion with the Savior of my soul, with the Lord of my life.

For His glory . . .