God's Grace Everywhere

God's awesome grace is constantly affirmed in the Bible and will be for all eternity.  Once our eyes of faith are opened to God's goodness we see the prevalence of His grace everywhere--even in unexpected situations.  God's grace is not like a fragile orchid that can only grow and flourish in a carefully controlled and maintained environment, but is as enduring and eternally hearty as He is.  In our imperfect world among sinners, God's grace flourishes everywhere.

In Numbers 12, the older siblings of Moses complained about his choice of spouse.  The text suggests the  motive behind the complaint of Miriam and Aaron was to undermine his authority before the people, for they said:  "Has the LORD only spoken through Moses?  Hasn't He also spoken through us?"  God heard their comments and bid them all appear before the LORD at the tabernacle.  God rebuked Miriam and Aaron for their trespass and when His presence departed Miriam was struck with an advanced case of leprosy.  Aaron begged Moses would not hold their foolish sin against them, and Moses instinctively cried out to God for healing.  By God's grace Miriam was restored to health.

As a consequence for Miriam's sin, God commanded she be shut out of the camp for seven days before she be received again.  Numbers 12:15-16 says, "So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. ¹⁶ And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran."  God's grace toward Miriam, her family and people is displayed yet again because the movement of the camp was God's choice.  Previously in the book of Numbers we read how God directed when it was time to move, where to go and how long to stay.  The people did not journey until Miriam was brought in again, and this shows God's hand in facilitating her restoration to her people and Himself.

We might imagine because of our sin God moves on without us or leaves us behind, but this passage illustrates the opposite is true.  Sin brings awful, deadly consequences even for believers, yet let us never lose sight of God's grace to forgive, heal and restore us to Himself.  For the sake of one person God waited 7 days so she could be received before breaking camp and moving on.  While no stone or pillar was erected, God has memorialised His awesome goodness in the scripture for us to consider and rejoice He has extended such grace to us.  People might leave or abandon us because humans are fickle, but God is faithful.  We deserve eternal death for our sins, yet God gives the Gospel of grace so we sinners might draw near to Him as He has to us.