Good morning Everyone!
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Numbers chapter 31. Midianites had enticed Israel into sexual immorality and into worshiping their gods. God told Moses to go into battle against them and kill them. And so they did. We might think this is very harsh but I try and think of this from God's perspective. I believe this is how God looks at sin or at that which distracts us from him:
- Sin is HORRIBLE! It is Detestable! We become so numb to sin that we think it's no big deal. But sin kills the soul. It brings separation between us and God forever. It means spending the rest of our lives in hell.
- We must be able to look at any sin as HORRIBLE and Detestable before God. Then we must let it motivate us to get rid of sin in our lives. And I mean get rid of it. God had killed and destroyed all that which was associated with sin so Israel would be free from that which caused death among the camp.
- We have to get rid of sin in our lives. What steps can we take to get rid of all sin in our lives?
Two key steps of help are:
- An accountability partner to help us stay focused on the goal at hand.
- Reliance on the Holy Spirit to help us and empower us to be over-comers
The Midianites were defeated in chapter 31 and we read that Balaam was killed with the sword. I was thinking more about Balaam and how his life had been spared earlier by his donkey and how God had given him opportunities to do what was right, but for whatever reason (such as the desire to have the riches of this world), he chose to help Balak instead.
Balaam had earlier not used his mouth to curse the Israelites, but his heart condition on the inside was dirty. Although Mark 7:6-8 is a passage used to describe the Jewish leaders that Jesus spoke to in the New Testament, I think it also sounds like a good description for Balaam’s lips and heart.
And He (Jesus) said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
In chapter 30, I was thinking about how important it is that our words and actions match up for us to be people of integrity who talk the walk and walk the talk. Now I’m thinking about how our heart, our thoughts and attitudes on the inside also need to be clean as well to match our talk and our walk.
Check out Psalm 19:14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.