What Does God Want?
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Intro:
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!”
Today the title of my message is, [What Does God Want?]
When a financial advisor helps a client create a budget, they will attempt to help their client distinguish between needs and wants. Before they can manage their money, they have to understand they difference.
Needs are anything we require to live. We need food, we need a home, we need a vehicle, or we need clothes.
Wants are anything that we desire in life. Understanding the difference can prove pivotal.
The concept of needs and wants extends beyond budgeting, we have to distinguish between needs and wants all the time:
Food— I need to eat everyday, but sometimes I want Mexican food over Italian food. I need to eat healthy, but more often than not, I want pie instead of a salad.
Clothes— We need to wear clothes, but some want them to match more than others.
Work— We need a job, but some people WANT to work a lot, and then there are people who want to work very little.
Vehicle— I need a vehicle to get around, but I might want a particular model.
I knew someone who was struggling. This person would borrow money from others to make ends meet. Once I was with them and they bought a new waterproof clothes for an upcoming fishing event.
I asked, why are you getting that if everything has been so strapped lately? He answered, I NEED it to keep my dry. As a good friend, I replied, maybe we need to discuss needs and wants.
When we put our needs first and then take care of our wants, life will be in order. However, when we get the two backwards, we end up neglecting our wants.
Needs and wants are an issue unique to humans in comparison to God. God does not have needs. Why would a God who is:
Self-existent
Self-sufficient
Eternal
Owner of everything
need anything?
God does not need money, food, clothes, or property, EVERYTHING already belongs to Him. But what about wants? What does God want?
We discover God’s wants or desires as we read scripture. We must remember that the Bible is NOT a collection of stories, rather it is a narrative of real-life events.
The Bible explains God’s interactions with humans and their interactions with Him. Therefore, if we want to learn more about what God wants, we should look to His word.
Something I want us to see throughout this year is God WANTS to hear us pray. Prayer is not become a religious activity that we do in times of crisis.
No, prayer should become a daily reality, where we spend time with Him. For it is through prayer that God will speak to us and show us what He has for us.
Prayer opens the door for God to give us what He wants:
He wants to save us
He wants to heal us
He wants to bless us
He wants to empower us
He wants to trust us
He wants to walk with us
However, we have to pray and allow Him to do what He wants within us.
This morning, I want to look at an account in the life of Moses. I love what transpired in Numbers 11. In fact, I have tried to preach from this chapter more than once, but it never seemed to come together.
But the past couple of weeks, I have looked at this chapter again and through it, I see one answer to the question, what does God want?
By this point, God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. He showed them what He expects through the Law. He gave them a blueprint for national and spiritual success.
However, the Israelites consistently failed and placed their physical wants over their spiritual needs. I want us to see this truth.
When we place our PHYSICAL wants over our SPIRITUAL needs then we set ourselves up for failure. Jesus promised:
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
When we put God first in EVERY area of our lives, He will take care of us.
In this chapter we will see how the prayer life of Moses provided what Moses’ needed while showing us what God wants.
I want to look at three parts of Moses and the Israelite’s encounter with God, [Complaining People], [Complex Problem], and [Continued Promise].
Let’s begin
1. Complaining People
1. Complaining People
1 Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.
When Israel left Egypt, they ended up at Mount Sinai. It was there that God revealed His presence, sent down Manna from heaven, and gave the Law, specifically the Ten Commandments.
They camped there for eleven months. Life was okay at Sinai, but it was not the Promised Land. Therefore, God instructed Moses to get the Israelites on the move.
They began their journey to the Promised Land and they begin to complain. They start to find fault with EVERYTHING around them. Isn’t it interesting, they recently left a place of bondage on their way to a place of peace, but they were unhappy and frustrated.
How did God respond to their complaining?
If we want to know what God DOESN’T want, we can see right here, He is NOT a fan of complaining. He responded by sending fire among them, destroying some people on the outskirts of the camp.
What did these complaining people do? They quickly called out to Moses who began to pray for God’s help. Upon hearing the prayers of Moses, God relented in His judgment and the fire stopped.
Though God came through, the people did not stop complaining.
4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”
There were some who traveled with Israel who were not fully Israelite and they began to complain. Isn’t it interesting how quickly complaining spreads.
They fussed about the food. The looked back to Egypt with rose colored glasses. They chose to forget about the hardships they faced and began to remember the delicacies and food.
But they did something very foolish. They started complaining about God’s provision and blessings.
When they were hungry in the wilderness, God provided for them by sending Manna from heaven. Instead of showing gratitude to God, they griped about only having Manna to eat.
What does God want? He wants us to appreciate His protection and provision. Instead of praising God for what He did, the Israelites complained.
This begs the question, what do I do when I do not understand? I thought we were supposed to be honest with God!
True, God wants our honesty, but He does not want pettiness. The Israelites were being petty about their situation. However, Moses took a different route.
Instead of complaining, Moses had a conversation with God through prayer about the…
2. Complex Problem
2. Complex Problem
10 Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me?
That night when everyone went to bed, Moses could hear the Israelites weeping. God became angry and Moses was displeased.
I want to clarify why the Israelites were wrong. Their complaints were not justified. God provided everything they NEEDED, yet they grew impatient.
Had they submitted to Him and His plan, they would enter the Promised Land and have everything they could ever need or want. They would:
live in homes they did not have to build
eat from gardens they did not plant
drink from vineyards they did not tend
As God prepared them for their future, they chose to rebel and complain instead of submit and trust Him. That was the problem, they were nitpicking (anyone know anybody like that?)
So Moses goes to God. It seems that Moses had a justified reason to complain to God. Instead, He spoke to God about the complex problems Israel faced.
He was honest. He felt afflicted and that God had forgotten him. He felt overburdened by the needs of the people. He asked:
did I conceive them?
Are they my children?
Now, they are complaining about not having enough meat to eat. How am I supposed to get enough meat for everyone?They weep all the time and I do not know what to do.
Moses was not complaining. Instead, he was explaining to God how complex the problem was. Furthermore, he became physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted.
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!”
He could not get much lower. Not only did the nation of Israel have a problem, Moses had a problem. The burden of the people was so great that Moses wanted to die instead of trying to lead on his own.
Moses’ honesty with God and the next few verses will show us what He wants. God does NOT want complainers and grumblers. But He DOES want us to share our problems with Him.
For every time we have a problem, He has...
3. Continued Promises
3. Continued Promises
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.
God had a simple solution. He wanted Moses to gather seventy men. These were men who were elders in Israel and He wanted them to go the Tabernacle.
Inviting these men to the Tabernacle was unique because of what the Tabernacle represented. In the Old Testament, God did not dwell in people’s hearts. Instead, He confined Himself to the Tabernacle, where the Ark of the Covenant was.
The invitation to the Tabernacle alone was extraordinary, but God had a deeper plan in mind. Moses was anointed by the Spirit. He was one of a couple of million people who had the Spirit within him.
God determined, I will take the Spirit that I have given you and place it in them. It is not as though God would take away the Holy Spirit from Moses. No, He was to let them have an experience with the Spirit as well.
Why?
God wanted to give these men the anointing and supernatural power to help Moses lead Israel. Moses was to tell them to sanctify or purify themselves in expectation of what God would do.
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.
He gathered all seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle. As they entered the Tabernacle in a state of expectancy, a cloud came down and God spoke to Moses.
Then the Holy Spirit that was in Moses went upon them and what happened? They began to prophesy.
Prophesying is not always predicting the future. Instead, it is speaking the words given by God under divine inspiration.
In the Old Testament, prophesy was a sign of the Spirit’s activity in an individual.
This event was incredible because of the nature of the Holy Spirit’s activity in the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit has been at work and present since the beginning.
He hovered over the waters at creation.
He had an active role in creating man in God’s image
He equipped people for service
Gideon
Samson
King Saul
or King David to name a few
He gave people power to perform supernatural acts
The Holy Spirit is evident all throughout scripture. However, in the Old Testament, there is no evidence of a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit in people.
The way we know the Holy Spirit today was foreign in the minds of the Israelites. However, God included this encounter to SHOW US WHAT HE WANTS!
When the Holy Spirit came on these seventy men, they began to prophesy. They did what was humanly impossible, but notice the end of verse 26, “they never did so again.”
It was a one-time event. Scripture could have stopped here with this event, but there is one more part we need to read.
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.” 28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!”
There were two men who were listed among the seventy elders: Eldad and Medad. They were supposed to go to the Tabernacle, but for some reason they stayed behind in the camp.
But when the Spirit rested at the Tabernacle, He also rested on them and they began to prophesy.
Now, people in the camp witnessed the supernatural activity and the nature of the Spirit’s work in people. Word got around, Eldad and Medad are prophesying.
Eventually, word got back to Joshua. Joshua went to Moses furious and concerned. He asked Moses to forbid them from prophesying.
Why would he do that?
Because prophecy was a sign of God’s anointing. And since He only anointed a select few, Joshua worried that Eldad and Medad would usurp Moses’ authority.
But Moses was more secure in His relationship with God. I love his response to Joshua:
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!”
Are you jealous for me? I wish that ALL the Lord’s people were prophets. I desire that the Lord would put His Spirit upon ALL of them!
And Moses returned to the camp.
Close:
What does God want?
That is a question I think we need to ask when we discuss prayer. Often when we pray, we bring a list of our NEEDS. But what about God’s wants?
To discover what God wants, we look to scripture. Each book contains narratives of God’s dealings with people, through them we see what He does and does not want.
In Numbers 11, we see:
God does NOT want complaining people
God does want us to share our complex problems
For through discussing our problems with Him, we give Him the opportunity to help us and reveal His continued promises.
Moses made a bold statement: I want ALL God’s people to prophesy and I want ALL His people to have His Spirit.
Was Moses alone in this desire or did He speak for God?
I think He spoke for God, for we do not have record of God correcting Moses. By this point in His life, He spend time with God and learned more about Him.
Furthermore, scripture confirms that this is God’s desire:
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
These are two prophesies that detail what God wants. It has always been His plan to put His Spirit within us. When His Spirit comes upon us, we can do what is otherwise impossible to do.
However, there was an obstacle for God to fulfill His wants. The obstacle was sin. Because of sin, humanity was corrupt and could not experience the Spirit’s activity in their lives.
Therefore, God had a solution. He wanted a relationship with us SO MUCH that He willingly sent His Son to die for us.
However, His SON wanted to reconcile us with the Father SO MUCH that He willingly came to die in our place.
And what did Jesus say about God’s desire for the Spirit’s activity in our lives?
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
Jesus’ identifies with the Father’s desire by becoming the means whereby God’s Spirit can live WITHIN us!
Let’s face it, before Jesus, we were like the Israelites.
We were complainers— we chased after sin, but never found satisfactions.
Then one day we realized we had a complex problem— deep within us we understood there was more to life, but we ourselves could not contain it because of our sin.
However, when we come to Jesus He TAKES our sins away and opens a door for
God’s continued promises:
The moment we accept Christ, His Spirit takes residence within us. If we are SAVED we have the HOLY SPIRIT.
But there is something else God wants. He does not just want us to HAVE the Holy Spirit, He wants to BAPTIZE us in the Holy Spirit.
He wants us to become submersed, overflowing, and consumed by the Holy Spirit. And when that happens, sons and daughters will do what they are incapable of doing on their own— speak in tongues and walk in the power of God.
I love the fact that thousands of years before the day of Pentecost, God shows us what He wants! He wants us to be full of His Spirit!
Why?
Through the Holy Spirit, we have power to do what would otherwise be impossible.
Moses felt the burden of leadership.
We too feel the burdens of life. But through the help, guidance, and power of the Holy Spirit we can:
overcome complaining— Pentecostal people should not complain
discover help with complex problems
Live in the overflow of God’s continued promises
This is what God wants, will we come to Him and verify it is what we need?