MARCH 17 "BRING YOUR CASE BEFORE GOD"

Zelophehad's daughters bring their grievance before Moses, their leader and you notice Moses doesn't send them away and accuse them of being just a bunch of malcontents, especially, they being women. "Rights, you have no rights, get out of here!" Moses did not pretend to be concerned and then come back with his own answer, as if he had prayed about it. Moses actually does bring their grievance before God and interestingly, God sides with the Zelophehad's daughters; in essence, God says, "they're right!"  What if the daughters of Zelophehad had not brought their grievance to Moses; and worse, what if Moses had not actually gone before God with their grievance?  We see in this story that God ids willing to let a lot of things slip by, unless someone speaks up. There's a fine line between fighting and contending for your rights and just being a malcontent and it is up to you and I, to discern between the two. Jabez also cries out to God, "oh Lord that you would bless me and enlarge my territory" and The Lord granted him his request. Secondly we see a leader who is willing to listen to his people, regardless of their gender; and petition God on their behalf and seek God for the best interest of the people, a true leader. This story also allows us to see what God is like and He is quite different than many portray Him to be. He is not this stoic enigma unmoved by the plight of man and indifferent. God, listens to reason. In Isaiah we have the scripture, "Come now let us reason together". If you cannot be bothered to petition God, ever, for your needs, what you sense are your rights, blessing and promises, then don't be surprised if you get nothing. "You have not because you ask not".  Or....when you ask, you ask not believing that you will receive anything that you ask for.  The Zelophehad's daughters are very, very close from missing out on a huge blessing and it's not Moses, nor even God, that is to credit for their getting what they received, we can only look back at this story and credit these brave, courageous women, for coming to Moses, in essence, coming to God, and bringing their petitions before him and trusting in a just God and a just leader, to do them right, and it pays off tremendously and a lesson for all of us to learn! Never be afraid, to petition God for your needs or what you think is rightfully yours!

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