Guilty by Association Numbers 22-25
We tell our kid as we raise them to be careful about the friends they make. We know from experience
that you become like your friends. The change in our thinking, actions and lives happens often times before we even realizing we made a conscious choice.
When Paul tells us in Galatians 5 to Walk by the Spirit so we won't carry out the desires of the flesh, and 1 Thessalonians to pray without ceasing, He is trying to help us avoid the pitfalls and pain that living like the world will brings us. We will reap what we sow (Galatians 6)! This isn't legalism it's common sense. David says in Psalms "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee". The only way to recognize a heart becoming soft towards the wrong things is to make sure your heart knows the right things.
In Chapters 23-25 of Numbers we meet Balaam. This is a story worth reading, especially if you like the movie Shrek. It comes with a talking donkey, a paid prophet, and an ending with a twist.
You have to read it carefully to see what really happened. Balaam seems like a prophet of God until you see what he does in the end. God stops Balaam from cursing Israel as Balaak wanted to pay him to do, but in the end Balaam still helps Israel's enemies to defeat them, by corrupting Israel from within, a much more effective method of defeat.
1 Peter 5:6-8New International Version (NIV)
When Paul tells us in Galatians 5 to Walk by the Spirit so we won't carry out the desires of the flesh, and 1 Thessalonians to pray without ceasing, He is trying to help us avoid the pitfalls and pain that living like the world will brings us. We will reap what we sow (Galatians 6)! This isn't legalism it's common sense. David says in Psalms "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee". The only way to recognize a heart becoming soft towards the wrong things is to make sure your heart knows the right things.
In Chapters 23-25 of Numbers we meet Balaam. This is a story worth reading, especially if you like the movie Shrek. It comes with a talking donkey, a paid prophet, and an ending with a twist.
You have to read it carefully to see what really happened. Balaam seems like a prophet of God until you see what he does in the end. God stops Balaam from cursing Israel as Balaak wanted to pay him to do, but in the end Balaam still helps Israel's enemies to defeat them, by corrupting Israel from within, a much more effective method of defeat.
1 Peter 5:6-8New International Version (NIV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. TIDBITS FROM NUMBERS 22-25
- Balaak was the king of the Moabites
- We see more about Balaam in 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, Revelation 2:14
- Numbers 24 is an amazing prophecy of Jesus and Israel
- God's anger at Israel's sin results in twenty four thousand dying
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