Daily EncouragementНамуна

This was Moses’ reply when Joshua asked him to stop Eldad and Medad “prophesying in the camp.” It is a revealing word, since it shows a complete lack of any spirit of jealousy in Moses.

The temptation to became jealous constantly assails the Lord’s servants, particularly those whose ministry gives them some prominence and is marked with divine blessing. The best preachers do not always find it easy to listen to other preachers. “The only way I can conquer my feeling is to pray for him daily, which I do,” said F. B. Meyer when confessing to being jealous of Campbell Morgan’s popularity when they were both speaking at the same conference.

Moses could answer as he did because, like One who was to come, he was “meek and lowly in heart.” A comment in the next chapter expresses the truth of this most vividly: “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3).

Such humility is the death of the envy which “withers at another’s joy and hates the excellence it cannot reach.” He who humbles himself under the mighty hand of God does not require the hand of man to lift him up (1 Pet. 5:6).