Welcome to the start of another week. I hope you see great potential ahead of you as we approach the end of winter. Today is also President’s Day, and I am grateful for the one we have.
Today we read Numbers 24-26
More than money
Chapter 24 opens with Balaam repeating his message and Balak gets very upset that he won’t curse the Israelites. Balaam had told him there was no amount of compensation that would get him to speak anything other than the words the Lord gives him.
We see many people who will sell out for a price. In the news we hear of billions, perhaps trillions of dollars, our government wastes on programs which only benefit a tiny group of people.
The question of why a politician would spend millions to obtain an office paying around $250,000 annually has always puzzled me. In the Washington, DC area, that would equate to a modest living.
Then we see bartenders who turn into congressmen and become millionaires. It is easy to speculate that some of that money is coming back into their campaigns, and pockets, from these projects they fund.
Hopefully, there will be an investigation into these phenomena. One day, we may have an accurate explanation.
Integrity
This happens in churches as well, and in private business. Integrity has become a fluid concept.
The company I work for has always had a guiding value called Integrity Without Compromise. I have always thought that was redundant. If you compromise, you lose integrity.
This is the new war on truth. People seem to think truth is only true if it applies to their beliefs.
God provides us with a different definition. Truth is truth. Jesus is the truth. God is the truth. The Bible is the truth. (John 14:6, 17:17). In John 16:13, Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
Postmodern thinking would have us believe truth is a personal concept. That your truth may differ from mine. This is far from any biblical truth.
Temptation
We encounter a truth in chapter 25. Men, when the opportunity presents itself, will choose to sin. The men of Israel began practicing sexual immorality with the Moabite women. For this, the Lord told Moses to take them all out and kill their leaders in broad daylight.
The execution of the death sentence against the Midianite Kozbi and the Israelite Zimri, caught in the act, ended the plague that killed 24,000.
Allowing the sin to continue infects the entire society. Therefore, I applaud our current attempt to end these wasteful programs and their promotion of immorality.
Peace
When we are moving in the right direction, walking with the Lord, we can see a covenant of peace is possible.
I enjoy sex as much as anyone, but cannot imagine any sexual activity that would merit the scriptural denouncement these two executed individuals have endured for millennia.
In chapter 26, we see that the largest clan was Judah. Reading this, I think of how small the nation of Israel is. In this spacious region, surrounding forces have hemmed these people in for generations.
Verse 26:54 says that a larger group should have a larger inheritance. Therefore, I do not believe it is God’s will for Israel to be so confined.
In 26:62 we read the Levites did not receive an inheritance. Those who are called to serve the Lord should not be doing it for material gain. Their inheritance is the Lord.
We should provide for them. They deserve the offerings, and much more.
Those who will not follow the Lord will not gain that inheritance. Only Joshua and Caleb may go into the promised land. The descendents of Israel may enter with them, but all those who sinned in Sinai wandered in the wilderness and died there.
Therefore, it is important to avoid sin, not support funding sin, and make a choice to follow the Lord.
We live under grace, but still need to honor God with the way we live our lives.
