Num 12:13, And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!" This is, sadly, a most appropriate passage for our consideration. I say sadly because of the circumstances around which this passage is set.
Our reading highlights an aspect of human behavior that is far too common within the family structure of this day and age. It has been prevalent since the fall from the Garden with the attack upon family that was in evidence when Cain slew Abel due to the very initial instance of sibling rivalry and jealousy. Because of what the family represents to this world of the relationship that has always been God’s intention with humanity, as His own family in Jesus Christ, this age strives to destroy that testimony through whatever means it could use. 
That is the core of this morning’s reading as Miriam and Aaron were attacking their brother Moses through the slights and the assault upon his leadership and his relationship with God. All the siblings had a place within the religious role assigned to them by God, but that ugly jealousy reared its hideous head when specifically Miriam, tried to raise a religious revolt against her brother, Moses. 
So many of our families are dealing with the same force of this age which is desperately trying to eliminate the full testimony of the work of Jesus Christ and the relationship that He has brought into place through His death and resurrection. We need to understand what is at stake as we deal with our own family members and take to heart the manner in which Moses dealt with the familial betrayal of his siblings.
Please keep in mind that Miriam was one of the great women of scripture in so many wonderful ways. She was the one who kept an eye on her brother, Moses, as he was set in the basket for his own protection. She was the one who made sure that the daughter of Pharaoh knew that Miriam and Moses’ mother was able to nurse the child. It was also Miriam who sang the triumphant song of the Lord’s victory over the army of Pharaoh as the prophetess who led the women in song and dance in what is labeled the Song of Miriam.
She has a great place in the early history of the Chosen people of God, which was unusual in that male dominated society. Yet, despite that full honor of God, even in the inclusion of her name in scripture in such wonderful expressions of leadership, we still find her leading an uprising of sorts against her own brother. She did not, seemingly, intend to overthrow Moses, but wanted some greater measure of acknowledgement from the people. She, along with Aaron, in that fit of jealousy, stirred up the rumor mill against Moses and his wife, and proclaimed that he wasn’t the only prophet in the camp. All of this was to tear him down with the attempt to build up her position of value within the hearts and minds of the people.
God called them out on this point, by setting before them the full measure of the fact that Moses did have a most special place before God. The Lord talked with the other prophets through dreams and visions, but with Moses, it was face-to-face. Then, as the immediate consequence for her betrayal of His chosen prophet, her own brother, God struck Miriam with leprosy. This disease would castigate her from any more contact with the people as a whole. Not only would she lose credibility, she would be an outcast until she was relieved of her suffering by death. 
At this point, we see that the heart of Moses came forth, the heart that we need to have instilled into us by Jesus Christ. It was the characteristic response that was the very expression of why God so cared for and dealt with Moses in such a personal manner. And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!" Rather than rejoicing in her downfall, rather than saying that she deserved what was happening to her, Moses cried out to the Lord on her behalf. He pleaded with the Lord to let her live and to heal her, to restore her health and her place within his honored family. 
Moses ever had that heart which was for the restoration and the forgiveness of those who transgressed against God in the ignorance of their sin. The key with Moses was that he did so, not solely for the sake of the sinner, but for the testimony of God. He continually brought forth the truth and understood the consequences of how the rest of the nations would view God in His dealings and His acknowledgment before the whole world.
It mattered to Moses, as it should so greatly matter to us, how God was seen by the rest of the world. It worked in Moses’ heart and mind the witness that would be in evidence before all men as God dealt with those who transgressed against His perfect and holy ways. Moses put God at the forefront of everything and kept the true relationship of Who God was and what He had done ever at the forefront of his dealings with all humanity, even including the betrayal by his own sister. 
Please turn to the terrible passage of the nation’s rebellion against God as recorded in Ex 32:7-13 and bear witness to the true concern that was expressed by Moses. He loved God above all else and understood how the utter, yet fully deserved destruction of the whole nation would present God unto the surrounding nations in a way that would never show forth the full truth of the majesty and the dominion and honor that God, Alone, deserved.
Ex 32:7-13, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'" And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation." Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, "O Lord, why doth Thine anger burn against Thy people whom Thou hast brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? "Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Thy burning anger and change Thy mind about doing harm to Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou didst swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" 
Notice, the emphasis was on what the nations would say about the manner in which God destroyed His people, not withstanding the fact that they fully deserved to be so annihilated for their sin and rebellion. We read of this heart of Moses for the witness and the testimony of the Lord God Almighty again when we get to the 14th Chapter of Numbers. We can turn to it now and read verses 11-19 together.
Num 14:11-19, And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? "I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they." But Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Thy strength Thou didst bring up this people from their midst, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of this people, for Thou, O Lord, art seen eye to eye, while Thy cloud stands over them; and Thou dost go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if Thou dost slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Thy fame will say, 'Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.' "But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as Thou hast declared, 'The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.' "Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Thy lovingkindness, just as Thou also hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." 
This heart for the testimony of the Lord in the people was also expressed by one of the great prophets at the point at which the nation turned its back on the Lord as their king. It was the prophet Samuel as his heart broke for the Lord in the witness of the nation’s refusal to honor God as their King. Instead, they preferred a man, Saul, to lead them, in order to be just like all the other nations. We find Samuel’s encouragement for them to still honor the Lord recorded for us in 1 Sam 12:20-24.	
1 Sam 12:20-24, And Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which can not profit or deliver, because they are futile. For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. 
Samuel kept before the people the truth that God had always gone before them and He had been their Deliverer and their Redeemer and their Provider. Samuel would continue to reinforce that truth to them in faithfulness unto The Lord God Jehovah, Who had been so faithful to them.
The truest expression of this character of being, which set aside the abuse and the betrayal of man against God is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He came to this earth for exactly that purpose and that is what He continually taught and practiced as we read in Matt 5:43-48. 
Matt 5:43-48, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? "And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. 
    	Jesus set the very basis of this manner of dealing with all others, which fully includes our family members, on the nature and being of God, Himself. We are to practice this forgiveness at all times, no matter what evil may be perpetrated against us. Even to the point of physical death, it matters not, we are to forgive and to place the needs of others above our own. We are to forgive and to forgive and to forgive again, because we are to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. That is the living witness that especially our families are to present to the neighbors and associates and the myriad of witnesses who are watching and waiting for any excuse to defame our testimony of Jesus Christ.
	Jesus did not just teach this manner of living, He showed it at the cross of His crucifixion as the soldiers were casting lots for his clothes in Luke 23:33+34. He was the perfect Son of God, the faultless man who had fulfilled the every detail of the Law of God without transgression. He, Alone, deserved the honor and the glory of all humanity, yet instead, for our sakes, He was beaten, scourged, ridiculed, abused, and nailed to the cross to die. What was His response? 
Luke 23:33+34, And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
…"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."
	The impact of the truth of this heart after the honor and the glory of God was also in evidence at the death of one of Christ’s believers, Stephen. As he was being pummeled to death for his witness of Jesus, he also sought after the Lord to forgive those who were so vilely abusing him. In Acts 7:59+60, we have the echo from even Moses, pleading with the Lord for the sake of those who had no clue what they were doing. 
Acts 7:59+60, And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he fell asleep. 
    	We close this morning with the encouragement of the Apostle Paul in Rom 12:19-21. Remember that this was Saul, who was there at the stoning of Stephen. Saul, later to become the Apostle Paul, whom the Lord did forgive such a terrible trespass against His own, as He forgave those who crucified His Only Begotten Son on the cross.
	Rom 12:19-21, Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 
	This should ever be at the core of our dealings with those who betray and malign and accuse and hurt us, especially within our family of loved ones. As we deal with spouses and children and parents and siblings and all the other varieties of familial relations, let us hold to our hearts and minds this encouragement to always … overcome evil with good. This is the reality of who we now are and how we are to act as the very Children of God in Jesus Christ. So be it!
	And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!" Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 148:1-5. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. Amen.