LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?
THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
According to the outline laid out on Day #52, we are in the section of Numbers that I've called "The Balaam Conspiracy" (Numbers 22-31).
Falling apart at the finish line. Numbers 25 starts by mentioning that the following bit took place "While Israel lived in Shittim." This was right next to the Jordan, in fact it's the place from which Joshua would have the camp set out from the wilderness to enter into the Promised Land (Joshua 3:1). And it is here, within reach of the end of the journey, where the Moabites "invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods" (Numbers 25:2). How often have we fallen apart spiritually, personally, right when God was just beginning to bring blessing into our lives? So we should always be on guard so that we don't fall. Just because we're doing well now, or life is going good, doesn't mean that we should relax our discipline or casually neglect our walk with God. It is possible to fall apart at the finish line.
A provoked fall is still a fall. To be fair--it's not as if Israel sinned without being provoked. The Midianites led them into it. Or, wait, the Moabites led them into it. Wait--if the Moabites are the ones leading Israel astray in Numbers 25:2, why is there all of a sudden a Midianite woman in the camp in Numbers 25:6? And not just any woman--but a Midianite princess, the daughter of the chief of Midian (Numbers 25:16)? The last time that we saw the Midianites and the Moabites together, weren't they heading out to hire Balaam to lay a curse upon Israel (Numbers 22:7)? And now they've partnered together to lie down with the enemy? Something doesn't add up. I won't keep you in suspense for as long as the book does, though: Numbers 31:16 says "these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor... so the plague came upon the congregation of the LORD." Having failed to curse the people of Israel, Balaam conspired to have the people remove themselves from God's blessing. It's like he took a page straight out of Satan's playbook. This incident was an attack on the people of Israel. But it's one that was still Israel's responsibility. Sometimes when we stumble and fall, we blame other people. But the truth is that, even if we were provoked or tricked to act that way, our actions are still our own responsibility. No one can make us think, or do, anything. We are completely responsible for ourselves.
Sometimes God's judgment is to let people wander over a cliff. You have to wonder at the mindset of the people who grumbled in the midst of God's provision, or joined in Korah's rebellion, or hooked themselves up with Moab and Midian right when they were in sight of the Promised Land. Couldn't they see the pillar of cloud and fire watching over the camp, and look at the manna provided in the wilderness, and see that something amazing was going on here? In each of these cases, the people involved thought they knew best and that others were being strange or restrictive or unfair by holding them to account. But their actions invited God's judgment, and they were wiped out in several waves over many years--due to the consequences of their own actions (though they didn't see anything wrong with them). In Numbers 26:64, after counting all the people who were left of Israel after the latest incident, it says "among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron.... in the wilderness of Sinai... except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun." God's passive judgment was to allow these people to have their grumbling hearts, their short-sightedness, their pigheaded determination to do what they want to do, and their sense that they know how things should be done, all leading them to stop listening and to rebel. And God gave them over to the consequences, so that after 40 years of this he could bring in a new generation who he could lead into the place of God's promise. We should pray that God would reveal to us where we are hard-hearted -not whether we are hard-hearted- so that we could be convicted and respond and be transformed. This is God's grace. There will always be places where sin is crouched at the door of our hearts, waiting to rise up and take its opportunity (Genesis 4:7). The first thing that we need to do is to acknowledge that this is a reality: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). Then as God reveals bits and pieces to us, we can ask for his help to grow and change.
Sometimes God's judgment is to let people wander over a cliff. You have to wonder at the mindset of the people who grumbled in the midst of God's provision, or joined in Korah's rebellion, or hooked themselves up with Moab and Midian right when they were in sight of the Promised Land. Couldn't they see the pillar of cloud and fire watching over the camp, and look at the manna provided in the wilderness, and see that something amazing was going on here? In each of these cases, the people involved thought they knew best and that others were being strange or restrictive or unfair by holding them to account. But their actions invited God's judgment, and they were wiped out in several waves over many years--due to the consequences of their own actions (though they didn't see anything wrong with them). In Numbers 26:64, after counting all the people who were left of Israel after the latest incident, it says "among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron.... in the wilderness of Sinai... except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun." God's passive judgment was to allow these people to have their grumbling hearts, their short-sightedness, their pigheaded determination to do what they want to do, and their sense that they know how things should be done, all leading them to stop listening and to rebel. And God gave them over to the consequences, so that after 40 years of this he could bring in a new generation who he could lead into the place of God's promise. We should pray that God would reveal to us where we are hard-hearted -not whether we are hard-hearted- so that we could be convicted and respond and be transformed. This is God's grace. There will always be places where sin is crouched at the door of our hearts, waiting to rise up and take its opportunity (Genesis 4:7). The first thing that we need to do is to acknowledge that this is a reality: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). Then as God reveals bits and pieces to us, we can ask for his help to grow and change.
RESPOND | WHAT IS OUR PART?
How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? These are just a few scrambled thoughts--each day, I am conscious that I am only ever touching on a tiny sliver of what could be said about the assigned readings. In our worship I think we should be reminded that God is to be revered--we are dealing with the holy, completely other, Creator of the universe who in his graciousness has decided to concern himself with us and is therefore active in human history. Whenever even the angels appear before people in the Bible, people fall down before them in fear as if dead, so they have to keep saying to them, "fear not." That isn't because that's a common saying on the streets of New Jerusalem ("Hey Michael, fear not!" "Gabriel, great to see you, fear not.")--they're saying it because even to be in the presence of an angel is terrifying; how much more so to be in the presence of God? In our attitude we should be on high alert for signs of a hard heart before God. We should be like detectives, tracking down the sinful motivations and rebelliousness of our own hearts (not the hearts of others). This will cause us to be kinder and gentler people, and more softened to the leading of God in our lives. In our actions both of these last two items can be accomplished through our time in prayer, even as we are out on a walk or driving in the car. We should always be working these things out. We never get past the need to repent and get a picture of God's holiness in our lives--we either grow in our awareness of that need, or we become less aware.
PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US CLOSER TO GOD?
Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "Father God, bring me to an awareness of where you want to work on my heart in this season. I know that you are slowly allowing me to circle around, increasingly leaning on your grace, relying on your spiritual provision, in this life before you lead me into the Promised Land. Do not allow my heart to be hardened on the journey. Holy Spirit, come into my life and convict me of sinful thoughts or attitudes or actions, and make me more aware of your awesomeness and holiness. And Jesus, please graciously intercede for me, and be the appearance of God to me, covering me in your kindness and grace--so that I might one day cross over the Jordan to look upon the face of God."
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