Amplification Through Meekness

Reading:   Numbers 12

Moses, of all men, was intensely humble and meek, these attributes made him the mightiest of men.  I say this simply because it is true and pointed out in scripture after scripture...

NUMBERS 12:3

3    (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) 

Why was this verse written and more so, why was it written as a parenthetical statement?  Aaron and Miriam, the older siblings of Moses, in a moment of most selfish inquiry, questioned whether they too had the power of prophesy and wondered why it was that Moses always spoke to The Lord.  Prior to God's response, we the reader are reminded, in a parenthetical aside, that Moses is the meekest of men  and to keep that in mind as we try to emulate his character.  Obviously Aaron and Miriam were rebuked (Miriam was punished with leprosy for a week) but the real lesson here is in the statement of Moses and his meekness.

Neal A. Maxwell hammers this point squarely with his April, 1985, Sunday afternoon talk, Willing to Submit:

 As the Lord communicates with the meek and submissive, fewer decibels are required, and more nuances are received. Even the most meek, like Moses (see Num. 12:3), learn overwhelming things they "never had supposed." (Moses 1:10.) But it is only the meek mind which can be so shown and so stretched-not those, as Isaiah wrote, who "are wise in their own eyes." (Isa. 5:21; see also 2 Ne. 9:29 and 2 Ne. 15:21.) 

 God's counsel aligns us and conjoins us with the great realities of the universe; whereas sin empties, isolates, and separates us, confining us to the solitary cell of selfishness. Hence the lonely crowd in hell. 

 Spiritual submissiveness means, instead, community and communion as the mind and the heart become settled. We then spend much less time deciding, and much more time serving; otherwise, the more hesitation, the less inspiration. 

 Yielding one's heart to God signals the last stage in our spiritual development. Only then are we beginning to be fully useful to God! How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing? 

"Hence the lonely crowd in hell," I love that bit!

~Kipling