God's people continue to have problems being loyal to him.
Numbers 25:1-5 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2 These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. 3 In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD's anger to blaze against his people.4 The LORD issued the following command to Moses: "Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel." 5 So Moses ordered Israel's judges, "Each of you must put to death the men under your authority who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor."
In my recent post
we saw that God was in control of situations and protecting his people at times that they didn't even
know about. Israel wasn't aware at all that King Balak was trying desperately
to have God's chosen people get "unchosen" with a curse from Balaam. The king was desperate to keep his job because he saw the success of the
Israelites in recent battles but God never changed his mind about Israel
despite the fact that they changed their mind about him.
- God was not reluctant to bless Israel, he went to great lengths in dealing with Balaam to bless Israel and to announce one of the first prophecies about Jesus.
- Balaam was reluctant to bless Israel, he didn't care about the people he was asked to curse and he was careless about his own life because of the greed in his evil heart.
- Israel was not reluctant to give in to their neighbors when they received an invitation to join them in worship, despite God's loyalty to them.
Comparison of the Rebellions at Sinai and Moab
1. Both of these rebellions took place immediately following a great display
of God’s care for His people.
- At Sinai, He performed miracles to deliver them from Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea.
- At Moab, He reaffirmed their blessed future by turning Balaam’s intended curse into an amazing blessing.
2. Both of these instances reveal the wickedness of our hearts, our desire to
worship but our lack of wisdom about worship, that's why the first of the Ten
Commandments told us to worship the one and only real God.
3. In both instances worshiping false gods led to immorality, the Bible shows
us a very strong link between satisfying our desire to worship the wrong way and satisfying our desire for physical pleasures the wrong way.
4. Moses ordered the death penalty in both situations. The reaction of certain people to this command proved their loyalty to God and earned them a special place of service in the temple.
- At Mount Sinai, the Levites' killed the people involved and they were designated as the tribe that the priest would come from. It is important to know that all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests, just the Levites that were sons of Aaron.
- At Moab, Phinehas was the zealous priest, a grandson of Aaron, that executed judgment. Moses had just told the judges to judge but before they could start judging somebody comes along and jumps to the front of the line to be executed.
5. What a contrast between Phinehas and his grandfather. Aaron was responsible for bringing judgment on God's people due to his role in the creation of the gold calf but Phinehas quickly reacted to the man's sin and killed the Israelite man and the woman both at the same time.
As you can see, it only took them one generation to forget about the rebellion at Sinai
and do it all over again at Moab, this pattern continued throughout the Old Testament as God's people were reluctant to trust and obey. Breaking the first commandment caused so many deaths in the wilderness and it was the reason that God's people were in exile before Jesus' arrival.
God's People Continue To Be Reluctant
Matthew 11:2-3 John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"
Even a man as great as John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11) was not immune to wavering in his faith when Jesus actions were so confusing. Early in his ministry John stated that his reason for coming was to reveal the Messiah to Israel (John 1:29-31) but he was still overcome with doubt as he sat in prison without any assistance from his cousin. I'm sure that John had no idea how true his words were when he said "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)
Even the twelve men that gave it all up to follow were not sure about Jesus and struggled with faith even as they were experiencing him in supernatural ways. Jesus did miraculous things that prove his identity but nobody was as sure as the evil spirit that Jesus cast out. The evil spirit knew but a few chapters later the disciples are asking "Who is this man?" (Mark 1:23-28, 4:35-41)
We Are Reluctant Disciples
Even today with all of the evidence we have in God's word:
- We are reluctant to worship properly. It is easy to look back at the people that God chose back in the Old Testament and be amazed that they worshiped wrong after all of their supernatural experiences with God but we are the same.
- We are reluctant to trust and obey. Doing things our way will never measure up to God's ways and his plans, it is so hard to let go of absolutely everything and acknowledge that God is in control, instead we want our way just as much as Balaam and Jonah did.
- We are reluctant to get rid of our pride. As we look at our evil hearts and see the darkness within, it should help us defeat our pride but instead we embrace it and it is a strong proof that Jesus was right when he told Nicodemus that we love the dark. (John 3:19)
The wilderness is still God's classroom where he leads us into situations that give us opportunities to exercise our faith, helping us become less reluctant to believe and trust Him. We will always have room to grow in this area, it's a slow, lifelong process that we can't simply check off of our to-do list and move on.
Mark 9:23-24 "What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes." The father instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"
Just like the believing father that desperately wanted his son to be healed, our belief will always be tested with some degree of unbelief that we should pray to overcome. Despite our imperfections and inconsistant faith, we can expect the same grace and faithfulness that God offered His people long ago as he takes us to the Promised Land.
