Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. [James 1:14-15 (NLT)]
As the Israelites journeyed toward Canaan, they turned south to the plains of Moab. Fearful of so many Israelites in Moab and Midian, King Balak of Moab sent the elders of Moab and Midian to hire Balaam, a sorcerer and prophet, to curse the Israelites. Although Balaam tried to do just that, the Lord intervened by speaking through the mouth of a donkey, opening the prophet’s eyes to see an angel of the Lord, and being told he could speak only the message the Lord put in his mouth. Rather than cursing the Israelites, Balaam ended up blessing them and cursing Moab! Needless to say, the prophet did not receive the rich reward promised him. Although God prevented Balaam from cursing Israel, the unscrupulous prophet found another way to get his reward from Balak—he got Israel to bring a curse upon themselves!
Any reading the Hebrew Scriptures tells us that Israel’s biggest threat wasn’t from pagan curses or foreign armies. The danger lay in their continual failure to remember and obey their God—the God who delivered them from Egyptian slavery, brought them safely through the wilderness, and even protected them from Balaam’s curse. Sacred prostitution was a common practice among the Canaanite religions and, while camped at Shittim, Israel’s men began to have sex with the local women. Encouraged by these women, they then began attending their local feasts, pagan sacrifices, and worshipping Baal of Peor (one of the main gods of the Moabites, Midianites, and Ammonites). The Lord grew angry with Israel for their debauchery and idolatry and commanded the deaths of all who defiled themselves by participating in the sacrilege. 24,000 men died in the violent plague of judgment. It turns out that the same Balaam who blessed Israel instead of cursing it was the one who instigated the women’s invitation to fornication and idolatry. Even though Balaam set the stage for the seduction of the Israelite men, no one forced them to respond; that responsibility fell squarely on each man’s shoulders.
Moab’s King Balak didn’t need a curse to kill any Israelites; they did a fine job of doing that on their own! But, the story didn’t end well for Balaam and the Midianites, as well. The Lord commanded Moses to take vengeance on them for their seduction of His people. A brutal massacre of the nation followed and the prophet Balaam died in the carnage. Nevertheless, the Israelites’ fall to temptation reminds us that our greatest battles are not against enemy armies or pagan prophets but against Satan and our own sinful natures. God, however, has not left us defenseless. While our worst enemy is self, our strongest ally is Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. [Charles H. Spurgeon]
While I expected bear sightings when we lived in the mountains of Colorado, I never expected a bear to find its way into our Florida community and scavenge in a neighbor’s trash bin on her driveway! While bears generally prefer natural foods like berries and nuts, as civilization encroaches on their habitat, those foods are becoming less abundant. Driven by their need to eat, bears will go where they can find any food. With a sense of smell that is seven times greater than a bloodhound’s, it’s estimated they can smell a food source from as far away as 20 miles. Opportunistic creatures, they take advantage of whatever is easily available, whether bird seed, pet food, barbecue grills, or garbage.
Once upon a time, a little boy was busy digging in the sand at the beach. Like other youngsters through the years, he thought he even might be able to dig all the way to China. His steadfast excavations got so deep that he encountered a large rock. With great determination, he dug and dug with his plastic shovel in an attempt to free it from the ground. Unfortunately, the little boy and his small shovel were no match for the rock. When the shovel broke in two, the boy let out a howl and burst into tears. Hearing the child’s cries, his father immediately went to comfort him. Through his sobs, the boy told how he’d tried and tried to free the rock but was too weak, his arm was too short, and he’d broken his only shovel. His father gently asked why he hadn’t used all of his strength. “But I did, Daddy, I really did!” exclaimed the boy. “No, son, you didn’t,” explained the man as he reached into the hole, grabbed the rock with his large hands, and pulled it from the ground. “You should have called me!”
It’s tempting to speed-read through the long genealogies found in the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the nine chapters of names in 1 Chronicles. Just when we thought we were done with them, we get to the New Testament and Matthew begins with a lengthy genealogy. His abbreviated genealogy, however, is more than a list of often unpronounceable names. Because it was prophesized that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham and from the line of David, Matthew takes us through Jesus’ family tree to firmly establish His royal lineage and legal right to be the king of the Jews. There are three notable omissions in the line of ancestors—the vile kings Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, all of whom Scripture says “did evil in the eyes of the Lord”—but there are five remarkable additions. While highly unusual to mention women in a genealogy, Matthew mentions five women, all of whom had what we might call “colorful” pasts.
In the midst of all the tedious and repetitive regulations regarding sacrificial offerings in Leviticus, we find evidence of God’s love and mercy. For several sacrifices, a distinction was made between offering requirements for the wealthy and the poor. Called korban oleh v’yored, there was a sliding scale for sacrifice based on a person’s economic position. In Luke’s gospel, for example, we learn that Mary and Joseph brought two birds as their sacrifice after Jesus’ birth. Had the family been wealthier, they would have brought a one-year-old lamb and a pigeon or dove and, had they been poorer, they would have brought only two quarts of choice flour.
Devotions of the Heart 