Miriam.

Miriam was a courageous, brave woman of God, but oooh boy was her life oh so convicting to me on such a deep, heart level. We already talked about her mother Jochebed, and how Miriam and her brothers were raised. She was fearless from a young age and strong 
faith early on.

The first 80 years of her life she was surrounded by slavery and suffering, endured many hardships, pain and trials of every kind, and yet Miriam's spirit was never broken. She was strong and faithful to God. She was set apart by God, like her brothers, to do great things for His glory. For those years, she was seen as a Prophetess, walking closely with God. She was focused on building a new nation with her brothers and was mentioned in Scripture several times leading the women of Israel, lifting their spirits, believing a better day to come and holding true to the Promised Land. Her faith never waivered, her spirit never broken. 

And here is when her life convicts me. 

About the time she turned 80 years old, we read in Numbers 12 the story of when Miriam says one negative comment against her brother Moses in public, undermining his authority and disrespecting his place with God.

 This made God very angry.

He brought Miriam, Aaron and Moses before the Tabernacle and audibly confronted them. Can you imagine God pulling you aside and punishing you?

I would be shaking in my shoes, I hated going to the principal's office, but to be pulled aside by the Almighty God of the Universe? Wow.

God punishes her right then and there with leprosy. 

Leprosy for saying one wrong thing?
Accept it wasn't just one comment.

It was her sin behind the comment. It was envy of her brother and her desire for more power. She had allowed envy to grow and build in heart against Moses and it finally came out. She didn't lovingly go talk to her brother and resolve it or pray through it.
She just allowed her envy to speak.

So God punished her. 

Yes. God hates disrespect that much. He hates the sin of envy that much. He HATES the sin. Did ya hear me? I know big pill to swallow.

And yet the church only talks about the awesomeness of God. 

We're too scared to talk about God's furious HATE for sin. 

God will and does punish for our sin.

He punished His beloved Miriam.

Doesn't matter who it is, God will punish us if we don't confront sin.

Then Miriam and Aaron pleaded with Moses to save them, to ask God to save them and Moses had to beg and plead with God.

But God still told him to punish her and leave her outside the camp for 7 days, which meant dishonor and Miriam was never going to enter the Promised Land.

If three of the most honored people who ever lived, who walked and talked with God couldn't enter the Promised Land for their sin, how does God view me?

We don't like to talk about that side of God. The reality is God takes sin very seriously and we must repent of our sin and turn. Repent and turn.

God is furious. He wants us to be in a community of people where we confront others and others can confront us in our sin. God is also love. When we repent and turn from our sin, He lovingly embraces us. We only preach and talk about the loving side of God. Truth is, we are sinners and the penalty of our sin is death; that's the furiousness of God, but the love of God sent his only son to take that penalty for us.

It's our choice to take the correction, to repent and turn from our sin, and accept the love of God. But we can't forget the furiousness of God. We can't go on living in sin thinking it will all be ok. Miriam was not ok. She was punished.

I long to know a community of people so well that they will confront the sin I don't see in myself and to keep me accountable. Churches in this day and age don't truly know each other to the point of judging in love, confronting with grace and keeping accountable.

We will face God one day and be judged for our sin, be judged for our actions, and for how we loved others and part of that judgment is judging our brothers and sisters in Christ to the point of correcting them (and being corrected ourselves!) so we can work on areas that need corrected daily. If we are striving to practice what we preach then we need that kind of true community.

The kind of true community that ain't scared to call out truth and confront sin. 

We shouldn't be satisfied with surface Sundays and occasional small groups.

If we're striving for righteousness then we need correction and we don't have time to float through life. I hope and pray this speaks straight to your heart as Miriam's example spoke straight to mine. She was a great woman of God who didn't confront her sin properly.