“The man Moses was very meek. More than all people who were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out you three to the tent of meeting.” The three of them came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward and he said, “Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision. I speak with him in a dream. No so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him, I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in riddles and he beholds the form of the Lord.”
– Numbers 12:3–8
Think about that description. Moses was very meek. This picture of humility in Moses before God such that God would speak to him. Mouth to mouth. Face to face as the picture Exodus 33 tells us, which we know is not actually like seeing God. No one can see God and live in that sense, but there is a picture of personal interaction here because of Moses’ meekness and humility.
This Verse Calls Us to be Faithful to God’s Gifts
You can’t help but think about Jesus saying, “Blessed are the meek.” This is how to know God. Not by exulting yourself or by humbling yourself, and then God says, “He is faithful in all my house.” Meaning he is faithful with the stewardship I have entrusted to him. Oh, don’t you want God to say these things of you? I want God to say these things of me. That I’m faithful with the stewardship of all that he has given to me. As a husband. I’m faithful with the wife he has given as a gift to me. And I am faithful with the children he has given as a gift to me. I’m faithful with the work he’s given me to do.
Numbers 12:3–8 Encourages Us to Grow in Humility
I want to be faithful with the stewardship God has given to me so I’m provoked to pray, and not just for my own life, but for your life. God, please make us meek. Make us humble, we pray. God, we want to grow in humility. I want to grow in humility. Please, oh God, remove pride from me. Remove pride from us. God, we want to know you. We want to speak personally with you. We want to grow in intimacy with you, and we know the path toward intimacy with you is paved by humility before you. Help us to grow in humility and to be faithful stewards, oh God of the house you’ve entrusted to us.
The life, the family, the work, the gifts, the skills, the church you’ve entrusted us, the opportunities you’ve entrusted us for the spread of your gospel. God, all that you’ve given to us. Help us, we pray, to be faithful in all your house, in all that you have given to us.
Oh God, we pray these things. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
