15 February 2025
Youth Worship 15th February 2025 : Has the LORD’s arm been shortened?
Youth Worship 15th February 2025 : Has the LORD’s arm been shortened?
Text: Numbers 11:16-35
- Speaker:
- Pastor Ben Chong
- Series:
- Focus on Faith – Numbers
Message Notes
YW Message 15 February 2025
Title: “Has the LORD’s arm been shortened?”
Text: Numbers 11:16-34
THE PROBLEM OF AN INADEQUATE FAITH
1. When we only see the problems at hand
2. When we are unable to see how God can help us
3. When we end up limiting God
THE PROBLEMS THAT MOSES FACED
11 So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favour in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!”
Numbers 11:11-15
Problem #1 The matter of leadership
1. It was like an affliction
2. It was a heavy burden laid upon Moses
3. Moses felt that he could no longer bear this burden alone
4. He was so distressed that he asked the LORD to take his life
Problem #2 The matter of meat
1. The people demanded for meat
2. Moses did not know where to get such a great quantity of meat
GOD’S PLAN TO PROVIDE ANSWERS
God’s answer #1
16 So the LORD said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.
Numbers 11:16-17
1. 70 men of the elders of Israel were to be gathered before God at the tabernacle
2. God would take the Spirit of God that was upon Moses
3. And place the same Spirit upon them
4. They shall bear the burden of the people with Moses
God’s answer #2
18 Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’
Numbers 11:18-20
1. The people were to consecrate themselves
2. They would eat meat for a whole month until it becomes loathsome to them
3. They were to learn not to despise the LORD and His provision
MOSES’ STRUGGLE TO SEE BEYOND THE PROBLEMS AT HAND
1. The problem of being unable to see the Person and Power of the Spirit of God
a. Moses rightly saw himself as the leader of the people
b. But the power that was in him was that of the Holy Spirit
c. That same Spirit can come upon others too
d. Moses failed to see this!
2. The problem of being unable to see the power of God to provide
21 And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”
Numbers 11:21-22
a. Moses saw the 600,000 foot soldiers, not including women and children
i. The LORD had said that they would eat meat for a whole month
ii. How would such a great quantity of meat be obtained?
b. Limited past experiences
i. Quails had been provided before Exodus 16:8,12
ii. But it was only done once, not for a whole month
THE NEED FOR A GREATER FAITH-PERSPECTIVE
And the LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD’s arm been shortened?
Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”Numbers 11:23
1. The problem of an inadequate faith had to be addressed by the LORD
2. A new and greater faith-perspective would be needed
The Spirit of God placed upon the 70 men of the elders
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. 25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.
Numbers 11:24-25
1. Moses did as the LORD commanded
a. He gathered the 70 men of the elders
b. Placed them around the tabernacle
2. The LORD’s part
a. The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses
b. He took of the Spirit of God that was upon him
c. And placed the same Spirit upon the 70 elders
3. What happened to the elders?
a. The Spirit of God rested upon them
b. They prophesied, although they never did so again
Eldad and Medad
26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Numbers 11:26-27
1. They were among those listed
2. But they remained in the camp and did not go out to the tabernacle
3. Yet the Spirit of God also rested upon them and they prophesied
4. This was reported to Moses
A greater faith-perspective gained
28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” 29 Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” 30 And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
Numbers 11:28-30
1. Joshua’s response
a. He wanted them to be stopped
b. He could not comprehend how the Spirit of God could also rest upon them
c. He was zealous for Moses’ sake
2. Moses gained a new faith-perspective
a. He saw beyond himself
b. He saw the Person and Power of the Spirit of God in his life
c. He saw that God can place the same Spirit upon whomever He wills
d. He need not feel burdened and alone
THE NEED TO CORRECT A WRONG PERSPECTIVE
1. The wrong perspective of the children of Israel
a. Their perspective was of food
b. Their perspective was that remaining in Egypt was better for them
2. They were given a chance to correct their wrong perspective Numbers 11:18-20
a. They were to consecrate themselves
b. They were to eat meat for a whole month until it became loathsome to them
c. They were to learn not to despise the LORD
3. But they refused to change
a. A huge quantity of quail was provided
Now a wind went out from the LORD, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground.
Numbers 11:31
b. The people were still driven by “intense craving”
And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
Numbers 11:32
i. They stayed up all that day, all night and all the next day
ii. They gathered a large amount (at least 10 homers)
iii. They spread them out for themselves all around the camp
4. Thus the LORD punished them
33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.
Numbers 11:33-34