March 7 2012 … Eradicate the Enemy

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Numbers, Chapters 31-32 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Numbers 31: 13-17: … [Wipe’em Out] ... 13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. [After the Israelites had defeated the Midianites in battle] 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.
15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them.16 "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people.17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, …”

My Journal for Today: Reading further in Numbers, Chapters 31-32, linked for your study above, the passage which stood out to me, i.e., Numbers 31, verses 13-17, was a hard one to take in; but it had a good lesson – at least for this humble disciple of God’s word. The historical fact, which was hard to read, was involved God’s battle plan for the Israelites, who, after they had completely defeated the Midianite armies, were to eradicate their enemies, soldiers, women, and children. And that seems so cruel, doesn’t it, … for a God, our God, Who is supposed to be our LOVING GOD?

Certainly the Israelite soldiers had trouble with God’s plan (i.e., His will), didn’t they? Let’s face it, the soldiers desired to spare the women/children as part of the spoils, likely to turn them into slaves as well as being tempted by their culture of sexual promiscuity. And Moses was exceedingly displeased with the Israelites disobeying God. And so he IMMEDIATELY set up a restitution plan, as you can read in the remaining portion of Chapter 31 of Numbers.

Here’s what my Parson’s Online Commentary said this morning as to our “take-away” from this portion of the scripture cited above …

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Because Midianites were responsible for enticing Israel into Baal worship, God commanded Israel to destroy them (Num. 25:16-18). But Israel took the women as captives, rather than killing them, probably because of the tempting enticements of the Midianites’ sinful life-style. When we discover sin in our lives, we must deal with it completely. When the Israelites later entered the Promised Land, it was their indifferent attitude to sin that eventually ruined them. Moses dealt with the sin promptly and completely. When God points out sin, we must move quickly to remove it from our life.
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There are some things in God’s plan, purpose, and will for our lives which may seem hard to take, or even to understand. But we have to remember the truth from God’s word in Number 23: 19, Prov. 3: 5-6, Isaiah 55: 8-9, and Romans 8: 28. But I always seem to need to be reminded that GOD IS GOD; and I am NOT!!! … Yes, … I KNOW that God would not put me in a place where, with Him guiding me, I cannot do life HIS WAY (see 1st Cor. 10: 13). And I KNOW that God has given me all I need to glorify Him with my life, even with worldly decadence surrounding me (see 2nd Pet. 1: 3-4). Therefore, I have no excuse to balk or do life MY WAY when I’m tempted by the lure or magnet of sin in my life.

The underlined portion of the commentary above is my take-away point of application from the highlight passage this morning. We simply cannot abide choosing sin, when we know it’s not God’s will for our lives!! Because if we do depart from God’s way and His will, we must – and will – pay the Piper for it. And God always commands or leads us to do life HIS WAY to protect us >>> because He loves us.

So, that’s what I’ll take away from today’s study to apply with more vigilance and obedience as I do all I can to live the way my Lord would have me live … FOR HIM!!!

My Prayer Today: … Lord, may Your way be clear for me today, no matter how hard it is for me to carry it out; and I will do my best to follow You. Amen