Numbers 17:8

Numbers 17:8 says, And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.  After God instructed Moses to have all the heads of the tribes of Isreal carve their name on a rod and put it in the tabernacle, the rod of Aaron, representing the tribe of Levi, was budded out, bloomed with buds, and yielded almonds.  This could only be the work of God.  I believe that God will always let us know when He is at work, even if we are murmuring against Him.  Verse nine adds, And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.  Moses brought out all the rods in the presence of the LORD and each man took his rod.  Since their names were carved on them, there could be no doubt whose was whose.  We should always know what is ours before God and not try to claim what belongs to someone else, because God certainly knows.  Verse ten declares, And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.  God instructed Moses to bring Aaron's rod before the tabernacle of the testimony as a token against the rebels, so that they would quit murmuring and not die. Jesus stands as a testimony to us today as His followers, and for that reason we should never murmur against God.  Verse eleven adds, And Moses did so: as the LORD commanded him, so did he.  Moses did as God commanded Him to do, and so must we as followers of Christ today.  Just as God showed the people then that He had indeed selected Moses and Aaron to be His representatives with the people, I believe that He will let us know who He has chosen to lead His congregations today, so we should not murmur against them or God.  Verse twelve states, And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.  Yet, the people still continued tto complain, saying they would all perish.  Verse thirteen adds, Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?  They asked if anyone who came near the tabernacle of the LORD would die, were they all doomed to die.  God had never said this.  He said if anyone other than the ones He chose tried to take over the service in the tabernacle that they would die.  We cannot change God's plans to suit our own desires or feed our own ego.  Matthew Henry said that this could represent either the people still murmuring against God or their finally accepting His leadership, but to me it seems more like they were still murmuring and claiming God was too strict.  We may sometimes have the thought that God expects too much from us and start to complain, but this should never happen if we are truly living by faith.