Numbers 9:8 And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.
I am probably talking to someone right now who needs to stop praying. I don’t mean you need to stop praying altogether. I just mean there is something about which you are asking God for wisdom when He has already given a command. Sometimes we have commandments. Sometimes we need counsel. There is a time to ask and there is a time to obey. We need the good sense to know the one from the other.
In Numbers chapter 9 God gave a commandment. The Bible says, “And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai.” God’s instructions were about the Passover. He said, “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at his appointed season.” The children of Israel were to keep it, and to keep it at the appointed season. “According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.”
This was a command. Sometimes we don’t need to pray about guidance because God has already given us direction and guidance. In the case of the Passover, there was an appointed season and a way that they were to do it. They had God’s commandment on it. They had been given a delegated authority. God spoke to Moses, and Moses spoke to the people. In fact, verse 13 says, “That man shall bear his sin,” speaking of a man who was not living in obedience to the commandments of God.
Sometimes we just need to act. We need to obey what we already know to be true. If a child asks his mom for something ten times in a row when she has given him an answer the first time, the subsequent questions aren’t an act of obedience, they are an act of rebellion masquerading as a question.
There are times when we need to ask, and there are times when we need to obey. Do not pray when God has already made clear the commandments He has given.
On the other hand, there are times when we are taking action when we need to stop and pray. Some men in the congregation brought a question to Moses. They had been defiled by the dead, and so they were considered unholy. Perhaps they had buried a friend. In any event, they knew that they were not to participate in the Passover in such a condition. On the other hand, they had been commanded to keep the Passover. So, their question was, “Should we keep the Passover at the appointed season when we feel like we are disqualified from participating right now?” Now sometimes people work one authority against another or one virtue against another in order to get their own way. I don’t think that is what was happening here. This was a legitimate question.
I love what Moses did. Verse 8 says, “And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.” Indeed, God did give an answer. Moses said, “Hey, just stop. Stand still.” Sometimes when people ask us for advice we either panic or feel flattered. If you feel panicked or flattered, just keep your mouth closed for the moment. You might think, “I’ve got to give an answer because someone gave me a question!” No, you don’t. If you don’t have an answer, don’t feel compelled to give one.
Similarly, sometimes we feel flattered that people would ask our advice. Someone asks us for our advice and we think, “Well, if I don’t give them an answer, they’ll go ask someone who is more spiritual or who is smarter than I am.” Well, what is wrong with that? What could be wiser or more spiritual than sending a friend to someone who may be more qualified to answer their question? It is wonderful to be able to say when people ask for advice, “I don’t know,” or to say, “Let’s pray about that.”
In short, in life there are times when I need to ask for counsel. There are other times when I need to obey commands. Every one of us needs the good sense to know the one from the other every day.