Pause and Think!--Day 68 Through the Bible

                                    The remains of a rock wall now covered with moss is all that is left
                                                                        of this old homestead in Yancey County.

If I believe what the Bible says, I understand that Jeremiah 17:9, says that, “(my) heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked—who can know it?” To read about the rebellion of Korah and the accusations against Moses and Aaron, followed by the ground opening up and all their households being swallowed up, is terrifying. And, it’s hard to comprehend that the next day all the congregation complained against Moses and Aaron again—and God killed 14,700, besides those killed in the Korah rebellion.

As human beings, we evidently have the potential to harden our hearts even within hours of seeing the judgment of God displayed in such a horrific manner. How deeply this bitterness and envy against Moses and Aaron must have been rooted! Moses was very in-tune with what God required and intervened immediately on behalf of the congregation of Israel. He knew “wrath (had) gone out from the Lord” and “The plague has begun”. Aaron obeyed Moses' instructions without question and put fire and incense in the censer and “stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped”.

These accounts were put in the Bible for our benefit (2 Tim 3:16) and should serve to strike a healthy respect for God in our hearts as well as a fear of becoming involved in sin. God evidently does not take rebellion and complaining lightly. Proverbs 6:16-19, lists 6 things the Lord hates. They include: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, a false witness that speaks lies, feet that are quick to run to mischief, and he that sows discord among brethren”. Presumptuous sin was addressed in Numbers 15, along with unintentional sin which was forgiven. However, presumptuous sin “brings reproach on the Lord”, and that person was “completely cut off”, and would bear his own guilt.

God looks on our hearts (I Samuel 16:7). Jesus instructed the disciples to pray that they would not be led into temptation, but delivered from evil. Paul describes the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians 5:24-26, where he writes: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another”. (We just read what this looked like on Korah when it was full blown, as well as how God responded to it.) In case we need another list for reference, the works of the flesh are also enumerated in Galatians 5, along with the fruits of the Spirit.

There could not be a better scripture to read following these accounts of God’s judgment and plague on Israel than the one that follows in today’s study. What a relief to read, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2). Salvation and forgiveness of sin is not something we should take lightly. As forgiven believers, we are not “immune" to sin and its consequences. Throughout the Bible, as in Numbers 16, God gives us glimpses of the consequences of sin to remind us of its seriousness. Many times we see believers as well as unbelievers reaping these penalties. Although God forgave David of his sins, God allowed David and Bathsheba's baby to die. In the early church, Ananias and Sapphira paid with their lives for lying to the Holy Spirit about money they were giving to the church (Acts 5:1-11).

In Hebrews 4:11-13, we are warned, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight; but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account”. We are all included in this assessment! Psalm 32:5, offers the only response to God that we can make (and live): “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’. And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah”.  Selah can be translated “pause, and think of that”!