Now Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, because he had married an Ethiopian woman. And the LORD heard it. They asked if the LORD had not spoken through them also. My Bible has in parenthesis that Moses was a very humble man, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
So God called the three of them to the tabernacle of meeting. He called Aaron and Miriam forward, then He said,
“Hear now my words:
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 to 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 LORD’s anger was aroused against them. He made Miriam leprous, as white as snow. Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.”
So Moses cried out to the LORD, “Please heal her, O God, I pray.”
So the LORD had her shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she was received again. And the people did not journey again until Miriam was brought in again.
The Scripture which stands out to me this morning is verse 13, “So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, Please heal her. O God, I pray.” He prayed a healing prayer with just one simple sentence, and it was answered inasmuch as Miriam was healed in seven days. She could have been healed instantly, but she had sinned by speaking against Moses, who was the LORD’s anointed. I think it had to be made clear that God would not tolerate such acts. Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth, and the meek shall inherit the earth.
But getting back to my original thought of the healing prayer by Moses, when we pray, God wants us to have purpose and not just pray a lot of beautiful, meaningless words and phrases. He wants a sincere request made with faith that God will act on our plea in our behalf.
New King James Version, Numbers 12.