As you might remember, the
Midianites led the Israelites into idolatry through their woman
enticing the Israelite men to rather worship their gods. And you
all know how furious God was and how God commanded that everyone
that worshipped Baal of Peor be executed. It was a horrific sin in
God's eyes.
So now before the Israelites enter
into their Promised Land, God tells them to take vengeance on the
Midianites for leading the Israelites into idolatry. The Israelites
didn't hesitate, but immediately obeyed and attacked the
Midianites. They were very successful in their attack and killed
all five of the Midianite kings in the attack as well as all the
men. Then the Israelites gathered all the plunder, the Midianite
women, the children, life stock and all the Midianites' wealth.
They returned triumphantly back to their camp. But Moses was
unhappy with them.
"Why have you let the women live?"
He demanded. "These are the very ones who followed Balaam's advice
and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount
Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord's
people." Numbers 31:15,16
Moses had a right to be unhappy.
They were once again falling for their lustful desires for the
Midianite women. And before long these women would have led them
astray again. God wanted them to get rid of the temptation to obey
other gods, but they didn't listen. As you all know throughout
history that foreign women kept on leading God's people astray. You
can look at all of Israelites' history and you will see the lure of
foreign women keeping them away from God. Just look at Delilah from
the Philistynes enticing Samson to sin, look at all of Solomon's
foreign wives leading him away from the Lord, look at how evil
Jezebel from the Sidonians led King Ahab of Israel to worship Baal
and so I can go on. Foreign women were a thorn in Israel's side,
they led the Israelites to worship other gods which eventually led
to their downfall and exile from their own land.
Today our weakness might not be
foreign women leading us away from God, but it might be other sin.
All of us sin. We were born with a sinful nature. None can ever
claim that they have never sinned, except for Jesus of course. But
the type of sin that we commit might differ from person to person.
Some might be inclined to get addicted to something very quickly,
whilst others cannot contain themselves when it comes to gossip,
whilst others love the status and prestige that money brings and
yet others are drawn to pornography, adultery and lustful
pleasures. The main type of sin that draws us in differs, but we
need to stand up against it. We need to take a stand against the
sin that lure us in and keep us from God's best plan for our lives.
Sin is like a cancer that spreads and devours the precious
relationship that we have with God. It eats away at the connection
that we have with Him and we need to be relentless in keeping it
out of our lives. We cannot allow the 'foreign women' to live
amongst us like the Israelites did. I am sure none of us would
wilfully choose to follow in their downward spiral.
I believe their life stories are
there to warn us and to flicker a red light for us today. And we
need to heed that call. We need to deal with sin in our lives and
not allow it to linger. We all know what happens to a small
flickering flame in a dry grass field, soon everything is
destroyed. Stop the sin in your life, before it ruins precious
relationships. I know being sinless might be wishful thinking, but
we can strive towards it. Being complacent concerning sin and
having the attitude 'that is just the way that I am', is not God's
way. God wants us to try and live a life to the glory of His
Name.
Father, please help us in our
struggle against sin. Sin is so prevalent all around us, and our
sinful natures are so prone to sin. But please help us in our quest
to rather follow Your ways. Sin is not our master anymore, but You
are and we proclaim that over our lives. Amen