Respect For Those That Lead

(Today's reading - Numbers 16:1 - 18:32)
Our last reading ends with the defeat of the Israelites at the hands of Amalekites and the Canaanites. They reacted to the death of the unfaithful spies by deciding to take the promised land without God's blessing. Moses warned them, but they entered the land without the LORD and they fell by the sword. (Num 14:44,45)
Defeated by their enemy and told they would wander in the desert until everyone over 20 years of age had died; the seeds for an overthrow of leadership were in place. Disappointment breads rebellion. Regardless of the things God had done through Moses and Aaron in the past, the people were dissatisfied. Maybe a change at the top would bring about the change that they wanted. (sounds familiar, doesn't it)
Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?” (Numbers 16:1-3) They came as a group. Rarely will an individual take a stand against authority, but give him a group and he is ready to protest. Strength in numbers.
The interesting part of the story (well, one of the interesting parts) is that these people are from the tribe of Levi. They had been set apart from the other tribes to serve in the tabernacle. They had already received God's blessing and were living off the other tribes offerings. Maybe they were puffed up, maybe they had too much time on their hands; whatever the reason, they decided that they could do a better job of leading.
Let's cut to the chase and see how this turns out for them. The leader of the rebellion were swallowed up by the earth and the remaining 250 men were consumed by fire. The next day, the people grumbled against Moses saying that he had "killed the LORD's people". God gets angry and 14,700 die from a plague.
To put an end to the question of authority, God has each of the twelve tribes bring a staff to the Tent of Meeting. The next morning only Aaron's staff had "budded, blossomed and produced almonds". Through this sign, the people knew that the priesthood belonged to Aaron and his descendants.
So what can we learn from this story? What can we learn about God? About people? About leadership?
God has established leadership. HE is the ultimate leader and he provides us with leadership in all areas of our lives. We know Jesus is the head of the church. (Col 1:18) We know that the husband is the head of the wife. (Eph 5:23) We know that in the local church, elders have the leadership. (1 Tim 5:17) We know we are to submit to civil authority. (1 Peter 2:13,14) God established order through authority for our benefit. We are to respect those that have authority over us, on our jobs, in our communities, in our states and country, but most importantly in our homes and in our churches.
This begins with allowing Jesus to have the authority in our lives. If He sits on the throne in our hearts, living in submission to those authorities that God has established is much easier. If I have a rebellious nature, I should check who is ruling in my life. It is my choice, it is your choice. Choose today who you will follow.