Be An Asker!
What if the daughters of Zelophehad had never asked their question?
Numbers 27:1–4 (ESV) Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”
Surely approaching Moses in the sight of 600,000 other Jewish men was intimidating. They also could have assumed that their father was cursed with no son and they were bearing the brunt of his bad choices to disbelieve for an inheritance. They could have acted like they didn't have the right to approach Moses or even bring this matter up.
But they don't do that. They go for it! They were askers. And because they asked, they got their names in the census in Numbers 26:33 and the very land they believed they should have!
You got to hand it to the daughters of Zelophehad. They had tenacity and guts. Their matter doesn't just come to Moses, it comes straight to the ear of God! It makes me think about how much God wants us to fight through in prayer.
And yes, we may not have the spiritual lineage of other people. Perhaps we have a genealogy that would make a church lady blush or roll over in her grave. The past is not the point. The daughters made their case and got what they asked.
I like how they go about it. We should notice their strategy. First, they came together. They knew that it would be more convincing to Moses that their issue was real if they all teamed up in the matter. There is strength in numbers. We are told to pray together as the body of Christ. Second, they came to the leaders in front of the people. Their faith would be on display for all to see. They learned well from Caleb and Joshua that those who stand up and believe God for more usually get it. We cannot let the crowd shun us into quietly accepting our fate. God is for us, who can be against us? Finally, they made a reasoned argument. It wasn't just "give us land!" They mention their father's sin was disbelief in the promised land with the nation in Numbers 13-14, it wasn't the outright rebellion Korah had taken part of. They had a reasoned argument and a clear case to make.
Sometimes I think we fail to receive from God simply because we let doubts, insecurities or the sins of our past keep us from asking But God's mercies are new every morning. God's grace far outweighs our sin. We should ask for good things from God today because God is good today!
I remember hearing the story of a low member of Napoleon's army coming to ask him after a battle for a prime piece of property. He gave it to him. When more important generals questioned the decision, Napoleon responded, "He honored me with the size of his request!"
Are we honoring God with or requests? I think we show how merciful and gracious God is when we ask for things we don't deserve. When He gives them, He glorifies His graciousness and people learn to see just how good He is!
Thousands of years later, these girls are still recorded in Holy Scripture. They teach us well to go for the big ask and let God's glory be made clear in His graciousness to us.
Numbers 27:1–4 (ESV) Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”
Surely approaching Moses in the sight of 600,000 other Jewish men was intimidating. They also could have assumed that their father was cursed with no son and they were bearing the brunt of his bad choices to disbelieve for an inheritance. They could have acted like they didn't have the right to approach Moses or even bring this matter up.
But they don't do that. They go for it! They were askers. And because they asked, they got their names in the census in Numbers 26:33 and the very land they believed they should have!
You got to hand it to the daughters of Zelophehad. They had tenacity and guts. Their matter doesn't just come to Moses, it comes straight to the ear of God! It makes me think about how much God wants us to fight through in prayer.
And yes, we may not have the spiritual lineage of other people. Perhaps we have a genealogy that would make a church lady blush or roll over in her grave. The past is not the point. The daughters made their case and got what they asked.
I like how they go about it. We should notice their strategy. First, they came together. They knew that it would be more convincing to Moses that their issue was real if they all teamed up in the matter. There is strength in numbers. We are told to pray together as the body of Christ. Second, they came to the leaders in front of the people. Their faith would be on display for all to see. They learned well from Caleb and Joshua that those who stand up and believe God for more usually get it. We cannot let the crowd shun us into quietly accepting our fate. God is for us, who can be against us? Finally, they made a reasoned argument. It wasn't just "give us land!" They mention their father's sin was disbelief in the promised land with the nation in Numbers 13-14, it wasn't the outright rebellion Korah had taken part of. They had a reasoned argument and a clear case to make.
Sometimes I think we fail to receive from God simply because we let doubts, insecurities or the sins of our past keep us from asking But God's mercies are new every morning. God's grace far outweighs our sin. We should ask for good things from God today because God is good today!
I remember hearing the story of a low member of Napoleon's army coming to ask him after a battle for a prime piece of property. He gave it to him. When more important generals questioned the decision, Napoleon responded, "He honored me with the size of his request!"
Are we honoring God with or requests? I think we show how merciful and gracious God is when we ask for things we don't deserve. When He gives them, He glorifies His graciousness and people learn to see just how good He is!
Thousands of years later, these girls are still recorded in Holy Scripture. They teach us well to go for the big ask and let God's glory be made clear in His graciousness to us.
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