Although Miriam was Moses’ elder sister and leader of the women of Israel, she was a casualty of God’s judgement in the wilderness. It is instructive to note that an individual occupying such a sensitive position could not escape God’s judgment when she goofed. For speaking against Moses, God struck her with leprosy. It took the intercession of Moses to reduce her sentence to one week; otherwise she might have died a leper (Numbers 12:13-15). From this example, every man should know their place and learn never to speak against God’s servants. The more anointed they are, the more dangerous it is to offend them. If Psalm105:14-15 is anything to go by, God does not permit anyone to harm His anointed. If God’s anointed offends you, apart from telling the fellow directly, you can report the fellow to God who anointed him or her, and God surely knows how to deal with His anointed. Never take it upon yourself to speak evil of God’s anointed, and never attempt to cause such a fellow harm. If you do, God may have to defend His anointed against you. Anyone fighting God’s anointed is fighting the God who anointed him or her, and with God, this can get very personal.
 
Our God is a God of structure, order and government. From the example of Miriam in the wilderness, we understand that God follows the spiritual order of authority when judging His anointed servants. To this end, God expects his younger ministers to be submissive to higher spiritual authority. We should also learn that our God is a God of justice who will judge any highly anointed person who tries to take advantage of those under him or her. Are you highly anointed of God? God has placed you as a role model to those under you; you should therefore not misbehave because you are occupying a high ecclesiastical office. Don’t abuse your spiritual authority by cruelly lording yourself over your subordinates and making unreasonable demands. If your subordinate is right in a matter, God will judge you, the superior who has done wrong. This can be inferred from the case of David and Uriah (2 Samuel 11&12). Today, many believers are suffering in several ways for fighting, opposing, obstructing and gossiping about God’s anointed. It is unfortunate that most people affected by this are not even aware of it. It’s time to deal with your problems at their root. Consider your attitude to God’s anointed today. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.