Sovereign God

4 min read

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

Numbers 31:1-2

Moses was not going to see the fulfillment of the calling that God had placed on his life to deliver the Israelites into the promised land. And that was due to his disobedience at Meribah, where both he and Aaron did not honor God as holy before Israel. And yet, he was still a servant of the LORD, and he still had one more thing to do.

The Midianites had led many of the Israelites into idolatry and death, and for that Moses and the Israelites were to take vengeance against them. God’s hand is heavy against those who would lead His people astray and lead them away from life in Him. And so God wants to use His people to fight against the evil in this world.

And for Moses, how could he feel about this one last assignment? Maybe Moses felt great disappointment and sorrow that he was not able to see the beginning of the fulfilment of God’s covenant promise. Maybe he felt great relief that the challenges and struggles of living in a sinful world was finally coming to an end.

But to the end, Moses served the LORD. God is God, and He is sovereign. His ways are high above our ways, His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

But it is wrong to be like the wicked servant in Jesus’s parable who did nothing with the money that his master had given him to invest because, in light of his master’s sovereignty, what did it matter (Luke 19:11-27)?

For the people of God, what matters is faithfulness. But it is not so much that our faithfulness is what matters most. Our faithfulness is trusting God in His faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is what matters most.

Father God, You are faithful, even when we are not. And You are sovereign, and we are not. But be mindful of Your servants. Allow us to see the fruit of Your faithfulness in our lives and in this world.. In Jesus’s name. Amen.