Skin Color

Numbers 12:1,9-10

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. ... The anger of the Lord burned against them, and He left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam's skin was leprous--it became as white as snow. ...

Moses' wife was a Cushite, she had black skin. The Israelites were Middle-Eastern, people with light brown skin. When Aaron and Miriam complained because of her shade of complexion, God, in effect, said, "You object to black skin? You want white skin? Okay, Poof! your skin is white!"

When God told the Israelites not to intermarry with the peoples in the Promised Land, He wasn't concerned about skin color; He was keeping them from idolatry and immoral practices. He allowed Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho, to marry Salmon, and be the mother of Boaz, then Boaz married Ruth, who was a Moabitess, whose son was Obed, who was King David's grandfather, in Jesus' genealogy (Matthew 1:5-6). These foreign ladies had embraced Israel's God, rejecting the idols they had previously worshiped. God is always wanting the very best for each of us, morally and eternally, and He is not concerned about our skin color: He made each of us just the color He knew would be best for us. His primary concern is the "color" of our souls: are they scarlet, the deep red of sin? or are they as white as snow, having been washed in the "crimson flood" of the Cross? 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!