God despises a self-important, self-promoting attitude. What begins as pride leads to envy of others, rebellion against leaders, quarrelling among families, and evil conspiracy. Instead, it is wise to humble ourselves, on our face before God in all situations, seeking his plan, and becoming willing to follow it. "As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly." (Numbers 16:31-33)
Numbers 16 is an old-testament, 21st century, action-thriller, containing conspiracy, violent death, and natural disaster. This catastrophic chain of events was induced by the ego of a Levite leader named Korah. Korah grew dissatisfied with his position of serving the Lord in the Tabernacle, and began to envy the leadership positions of Moses and Aaron.
To satisfy his growing ego, Korah, along with fellow leaders Dathan and Abiram, conspired to challenge the leadership team God had put in place. 250 community leaders were also recruited to join the rebellion.
Assembling together before Moses and Aaron, Korah’s stinging words in verse three reveal the depth of his arrogance, “ ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’”
He thought he was rebuking Moses, but he was actually despising God. He bought the lie that he deserved a different position than God gave him. How did God respond to Korah’s rebellion? He opened a sinkhole beneath his feet, sending him, along with his co-conspirators, their families and possessions, “down alive into the grave.” Immediately afterward, the 250 leaders who had joined the revolt perished in a blaze of heavenly fire.
Korah thought of himself as holy, but God considered him wicked. Korah wanted to make the rules and give himself a promotion. He learned (too late) that God makes the rules, and demotes unrepentant leaders.
Throughout this chapter we see Moses fall on his face in humility before God, seeking vindication, validation and wisdom. Because of Moses’ intercession, God extended grace. God allowed 24 hours for Korah and his group to repent. That’s grace. He gave the followers a warning and the choice to separate themselves from the conspirators. That’s grace. We also discover later in Numbers that God spared a strand of descendants of Korah, allowing them to continue serving Him in the Tabernacle. That’s extreme grace.
Moses humbly sought God in every circumstance listed here, and God honored his humility by extending grace.
God despises a self-important, self-promoting attitude. What begins as pride leads to envy of others, rebellion against leaders, quarrelling among families, and evil conspiracy. Instead, it is wise to humble ourselves, on our face before God in all situations, seeking his plan, and becoming willing to follow it.
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