Numbers 10-12: Talking with God

Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.” - Num. 11:12-15 NIV

Poor Moses, one day he was minding his own business, tending his father-in-law's sheep, at an age when he was about to retire, and the next, he is wandering around in the wilderness with a host of ungrateful people.  How did it come to this, what did he do wrong?  Was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was he specifically chosen for the task?  Why did God choose him to lead the people anyway.  He was not a great public speaker.  He did not have a special affinity for his fellow Israelites.  He wasn't a man of great patience.  Why did God choose him?

Perhaps it was nothing more than the fact that he heard God's voice.   As God himself told Aaron and Miriam, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.  But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.  With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. - Num. 12:6-8 NIV

Moses was not afraid of God, he was not afraid to dialog with God, to question God, to be honest with Him.  Most of us spend our lives arguing with everyone but God.  We challenge everyone else, we listen to everyone else.   We look to everyone else for their approval.  Our lives may be simpler as a result.  We don't have a bunch of whiney, wailing people trailing after us, but are we missing the voice of God?