WEEK 14- Moses
MONDAY — Read the passage with your team.
1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 "Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the Lord heard this.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you." So the three of them came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said, "Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.
10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11 and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away."
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, "O God, please heal her!"
14 The Lord replied to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back." 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.
16 After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.
Numbers 12:1-16
What does this passage have to say about humility?
Why is that important?
TUESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.
1) What motivates us to gossip or talk negatively about others? What motivated Miriam and Aaron (v. 2)?
2) Do you believe it’s OK to speak negatively about another person, as long as they don’t hear you — maybe just in conversation with your family or closer friends, maybe as a way to “get it off your chest”? When Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses (v. 2), who did hear them? Was this acceptable to God?
3) Are prideful words spoken “in private” less harmful than those spoken in public? Are angry or negative thoughts alright, as long as you don’t act on them? What does Psalm 139:23-24 have to say about that? (“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”)
WEDNESDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.
3) How seriously do you take the sin of gossip? Do you engage in it? What were the consequences when Miriam and Aaron gossiped against Moses (v. 9, 10, 14-15)? Should you assume that something as serious as what happened to Miriam and Aaron won’t happen to you? Might you be underestimating God’s hatred of this sin?
4) What impact does gossip have on relationships? Why do you believe God detests gossip so strongly?
THURSDAY — Discuss the passage with your team.
5) Before reading this passage, what words would you have used to describe Moses? How does God describe Moses (v. 3)?
6) What is Moses’ reaction, when he learns of Miriam and Aaron’s negative words spoken against him, and when he sees the punishment given to them (v. 13)? What is your reaction when you hear people talk negatively about you, or when you learn someone has talked “behind your back”? What response does humility demand? Why
FRIDAY — Discuss sport applications of humility, and pray together.
· Ask your athletes to briefly reflect on what they’ve learned about humility this week, and to repeat some of those things. (Remind them of some of the Biblical truths about humility you’ve discussed, if necessary.)
· Ask your team, “Based on what we learned about humility this week...What does a humble athlete do?” Do not settle for vague answers; challenge your athletes to go beyond general qualities of a humble athlete, and to determine what those qualities look like in action.
· Add the results to your team’s list of descriptions of the “humble athlete”, and be sure the list is displayed somewhere that is constantly visible, as a reminder to the team
· Pray together as a team. Encourage your athletes to pray for your team’s growth in regard to the discipline of humility — especially in relation to some of the issues and challenges that you discussed together this week. Challenge them to also ask for forgiveness, when applicable. Give time for athletes to request prayer (regarding humility or anything else), and pray together.
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