We need simply to examen our own thought life throughout the course of a day to see how tempted we are to desire what another has. It may spring up at the good fortune of a friend, the stranger who races by in the fancy car, or the promotion of a colleague. It may surface as a twinge we are only slightly aware of, a word of criticism, or a sarcastic remark.
Such was the case with Korah and Moses. Korah saw Moses influence and authority as human oppression rather than divine provision. He saw Moses the leader, but did not stop to consider the eighty years of training that formed the man whom the scripture calls "the most humble man on the face of the earth." Korah didn't learn leadership and diplomacy over forty years as member of the Egyptian royal court, he didn't learn humility and faithfulness over forty more years as a shepherd in the wilderness, and he wasn't called by God to lead the people. He acted from his desire and became "insolent" stirring up rebellion among hundreds of community leaders. Had not Moses pleaded with God, it could have cost the people of Israel everything.
I can't help but wonder what Korah's future could have been like had he been patient. Maybe he would have learned from his time in the wilderness and formed a character that was ready to lead. It was not the "big commandments" that were his undoing, it was the last on the list.
May we have the patience to examen our hearts, putting them before God moment by moment, that we may be humbled like Moses growing in the character to lead.
