Karen’s Notes!
Insights from a Glory-Bound Lady”

Selected Notes
Volume 4 Number 15 “Call in the Tank! I Am About to Speak!”
April 14th, 2021

God’s Word is so personal and powerful. How awesome is our God in all of His ways. He not only spoke the word and the vast galaxies were instantly created; He also cares about His people individually. He knows our frailty. He understands us. He is well aware of how we act and the way we speak. This to me is really powerful.

Karen had been preparing for an upcoming ladies’ retreat. She was also doing a personal Bible study through the Old Testament book of Numbers. Coming to Numbers 12, she was very interested in a situation that Moses faced within his own family. Let me share the Scripture and then what she wrote in her Bible study journal about this.

“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting! So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they went forward. Then He said, Hear now My word: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed” (Numbers 12:1-8).

Karen wrote: “God is listening! These destructive words of Miriam and Aaron were not thoughtful, truthful, nor were they tender. God’s spokesman was Moses; not his brother and sister. This is a good reminder for us of our words. Think of a T.A.N.K
1. T stands for TRUE. Are my words true? “Speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).
2. A stands for APPROPRIATE. Are my words proper? “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver” (Proverbs 10:11, 20).
3. N stands for NECESSARY. Are my words necessary? “The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse” (Proverbs 10:32).
4. K stands for KIND. Are my words kind indeed? “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Michael’s observation: It was a sad day in the family of Moses when his sister and brother spoke so miserably about him and so exaggerated about themselves. But then I must remember, my mouth can easily be out of control and I too say things that are best not said. I need to bring out the T.A.N.K. How about you?