Jealous

There are times I wish I were different.  Okay, there are many times that I wish I were different. 

I wish I weren’t so painfully shy sometimes. 

Public speaking, amazingly enough, I have no problems with.  I suppose joining a speech club when you’re in high school does that for you. 

But meeting new people?  Really tough. 

Socializing at parties.  Uncomfortable. 

I’m really jealous of those who are naturally outgoing and friendly.  I wish I could be that way, but I’m not.  And I wonder sometimes, why God had to make me this way.

There are different kinds of jealousy.  And jealousy can really cause problems, especially in the church, resulting in hurt feelings, division, and damaged ministries.

One type of jealousy is displayed by Joshua. 

It’s the reluctance to give up what was once theirs, or in this case, Moses’. 

Prior to Numbers 11, Moses had special access to God’s Spirit, His wisdom most likely, and most definitely His power, that others did not. 

But when Moses complained to God about the burden of leadership being too heavy, God said, “Fine. Choose some people that are leaders among the people, and I will take the Spirit that is upon you and share it among them.  That way, they can help you carry the load.”

Seventy men were called, and sixty-eight showed up. 

Where were the other two? 

We don’t know. 

Maybe they somehow never got the summons. Maybe they ignored it.  Maybe they were too busy. 

Whatever the reason, they weren’t there.  God then came and anointed the 68 with his Spirit, and they started prophesying. 

But he also anointed the two that didn’t show up, and they started prophesying too. 

And Joshua got upset. 

I don’t know if he was upset about the other 68.  It’s possible that he didn’t want God’s anointing shared with them either. 

But he took special issue with the two, probably because, “They aren’t one of us.  They were supposed to come and join us, but didn’t.”

It’s kind of reminiscent of a story in the New Testament where some of the disciples complained of a person outside of their group driving demons out in Jesus’ name.  (Mark 9:38-40) 

And they said to Jesus the same thing Joshua said to Moses.  “Stop this guy!” 

But Moses said to Joshua,

Are you jealous for my sake?  I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them! (Numbers 11:29)

That should be our attitude as well. 

Sometimes in the church, we are given a ministry, but suddenly we’re asked to share that ministry with another.  And we get jealous and say, “But this is MY ministry.” 

Actually, it isn’t.  It was a ministry given you by God for his purposes, not your own. 

And it should be our desire that more people get involved in ministry.  That God would anoint more people with his Spirit, and that more people would be blessed because of the people that have joined this ministry that you’re a part of. 

There’s no room for jealousy, within churches or between churches. 

Our prayer should be that the Lord of the harvest would send more workers into the harvest field that more people might be saved. 

And if they can do our ministry better than us, we should be thankful that God’s kingdom is increasing and just be content with the place that we have in the kingdom.

But there’s another kind of jealousy, a jealousy that was exhibited by Aaron and Miriam. 

They both complained about Moses’ position saying,

Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?  Hasn’t he also spoken through us?  (Numbers 12:2)

Not only that, they tried to undermine his authority by criticizing his marriage to a Cushite woman. 

As a result, God disciplined them for their attitude.

Sometimes, we do the same thing. 

We desire to have a position in the church that another has.  Sometimes we criticize them by saying we’re better than they are. 

“Why is he doing that?  I wouldn’t do things that way!” 

Or if we can’t criticize their ministry, we find other things to criticize them about, justified or not. 

But either way, it’s an attitude that is displeasing to God.

God has given to each Christian of the Spirit as he wills.  Each of us has a place in the church.  And so we are to be content with what God has given us and serve us as he wills. 

If that means someone has a higher position than us, or that we have to share our responsibilities with someone else so that the ministry can flourish, we should rejoice in that and not be jealous.

As one song puts it,

For your glory. 
For your kingdom. 
For your name, O Lord, here I am.