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Day Three: Sharing, Not Gossiping

God hates gossip, and many verses in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, explain His viewpoint on the topic. In Leviticus 19:16, God explains, “Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord,” and James 4:11 states, “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it …”

In Numbers 12, we learn exactly how much God hates gossip. At this point in the Bible, the Israelites had wandered around in the desert for a while. One day, Miriam and Aaron (Moses’ older siblings) “began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.” Speaking among each other, they asked, “‘Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? … Hasn’t he also spoken through us?’ And the Lord heard this.”

I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to get caught by God gossiping about His friend, and that’s exactly what Miriam and Aaron were doing. Why they were concerned with Moses’ Cushite wife isn’t the issue. Numbers 12 continues to explain why the Lord got upset with them. “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” Gossiping usually occurs in secret, and God quickly brought their slanderous talk out in the open. It explains how God tells Miriam and Aaron exactly how special Moses is to Him. He tells them about Moses’ faithfulness and how Moses was allowed to see God face to face, unlike other prophets, Aaron and Miriam included. The passage doesn’t tell us if Miriam or Aaron were jealous or why exactly they were talking about Moses behind his back, simply that they were, and God wasn’t pleased. It finishes by saying, “The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.”

When the cloud lifted from the tent after their conversation with God, Miriam was found to have leprosy. That was her punishment for gossiping against her brother, and she was banished from the camp for seven days. Moses prayed for her healing, and the Lord granted his request. After her days of exile from the people, she was able to return to camp with the Israelites, where they “left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.”

God takes gossip seriously. While people today don’t usually get leprosy because of talking about someone behind their back, sin can potentially eat a person up from the inside out. When sin occurs deliberately for an extended period, people can and often do develop health problems like stomach issues, heart issues, and other breakdowns of their internal organs, such as cancer.

Instead of tearing each other down emotionally, God instructs us in Ephesians 4:29 to speak “…only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” There is wisdom in the phrase: if you don’t have something nice to say, it’s better not to open your mouth at all.

How would you define sharing, not gossiping, in your daily life?

Dear Heavenly Father:

Thank You that You don’t require me to be perfect to be Your daughter. Thank You for bringing other sisters alongside me to help me grow to be more like You. Please help keep my conversations free from gossip, staying tuned into Your still small voice so that what I speak stays pure, holy, and encouraging toward others. Help me to remember that others’ business isn’t mine to share and to be trustworthy with the information others have chosen to give me.

In Jesus’ name, Amen