Today’s study
will show us how being zealous for God can bring peace to our lives. Like King
David was zealous for God when he battled Goliath, and brought Shalom to his people.
As we move forward to Numbers
25:10-13, we find — sadly — that a certain con artist name Balaam has figured
out how to contaminate the children of Israel and separate them from God’s
peace and blessings. He learned how to dampen their zeal for God.
Although he would not speak against
God’s children, or against God, he figures out how to infiltrate and corrupt
them from the inside. And God is livid about it! And He’s not going to turn a
blind, permissive eye to their sin. He’s going to discipline them — hard — and He
operates like a master surgeon slicing out a fast-growing, invasive malignant
tumor. He wants to stop it in its tracks. Why?
Because he loves his people; He is jealous for them. Like a husband who
treasures his wife and is jealous for her and does not want, or intend, to
share her with another man. He watches over her, cherishes her, prizes her like
the crown jewels, and will go to any lengths to protect her.
Now that’s love! Even though the
“surgery” looks like unnecessary retribution, the surgery needs to be extreme because
the disease is fatal! In reality, God is actually — like a trained, adept
surgeon — performing a merciful act in order to save them. Just
as you would
want a talented physician to do for you if an ugly, deadly disease were
eating you up on
the inside.
The Israelites are being devastated
by a plague because of their sin. And when a man named Phinehas, who is Aaron
the high priest’s grandson, witnesses an event that would only exacerbate the
problem, worsen the plague, and rain more death and destruction upon the
people, he rises up and does something about it. He kills the offenders because
of their sin, and God has something to say about his actions. Does God chastise
Phinehas? Punish him? No. God ends the plague and says:
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the
son of Aaron the priest, has turned
back My wrath from the children of
Israel, because he was zealous with
My zeal among them, so that I did not
consume the children of Israel in My
zeal. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give
to him My covenant of Shalom; and it
shall be to him and his descendants
after him a covenant of an
everlasting priesthood, because he was
zealous for his God, and made
atonement for the children of Israel.’”
Not only does God not punish Phinehas,
He actually rewards him and his
descendants.
Forever! Why? Because this man had a heart after God and His people. Phinehas
was jealous for the Israelites, his
people. He was angry about what was happening and he was scared for his
people. He wanted them to live, not die. He knew someone needed to take action
and put a stop to what was happening, and he rose up and took action. Blunt,
swift action. And God is pleased.
When I first studied this passage,
this is what I wrote in my journal: “How wonderful and miraculous that such
passion and zeal for you, Lord, can impart peace — life, health, prosperity and
favor.”
In his Life Principles Bible, Dr. Charles Stanley says, “As believers, we are
to have a passion for God. Today, the word ‘passion’ often carries a sexual
connotation, but the true meaning of the word is ‘an overwhelming, strong
desire,’ which can be a strong desire for matters of the spirit. Like Phinehas,
believers are to have an urgency, a fervor, a zealous desire for the Lord, and
everything related to Him.”
Phinehas had passion. And he didn’t
hesitate to demonstrate it.
Questions to Ponder:
1) Let’s
consider Phinehas’s actions again. What he did seems brutal, uncivilized and
ruthless to us now. And certainly I don’t think God is calling us to slaughter
those living contrary to His word. Jesus actually calls us to pray for our
enemies and not to return evil for evil but to return good for evil. So how do we
apply this teaching and example to our own lives in order to have Shalom?
For one thing, I
think we need to seriously consider what, and who, we have allowed to
infiltrate our churches, and how we protect the congregations from
infiltration. Jesus does caution us
against ripping up the unbelievers in our midst in order not to rip up and damage the believers along with them, but we do
need more spiritual wisdom and discernment about what is being taught in our
churches today and open our eyes to how the world has sneaked in the church’s back
door, as James said it would in the New Testament. We need to be more zealous —
jealous and protective — about our
churches, and for one another. Because
this isn’t just about us; it’s about
the health of the Body!
The way Balaam
was able to curse Israel was by wreaking havoc from within. His tactics are now
known as “the doctrine of Balaam.” Dr. J. Vernon McGee has this to say about
it:
“Our Lord (Jesus) tells us in
Revelation that that same doctrine gets into the
church, and is in the church today.
My viewpoint is that the enemy can’t
hurt God’s people or God’s work or
God’s church from the outside. The
church has never been hurt from the
outside. To the church at Pergamos
our Lord said, ‘But I have a few
things against thee, because thou hast
there them that hold the doctrine of
Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a
stumbling block before the children
of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto
idols, and to commit fornication.’
(Rev. 2:14). This is the doctrine of
Balaam. In the history of the
church, Pergamos marked the union of the
world and the church. The world came
in like a flood, and the devil
joined the church at Pergamos. It
was not persecution from the outside,
but the doctrine of Balaam of the
inside that hurt the church.”
So my questions to you today, for
exploration and meditation are:
What is your particular church tolerating
in their midst now that they
would not have tolerated in the
past, and should not be tolerating?
What kind of teaching are you receiving
that you know in your heart —
that the Spirit is warning you about
and you may be trying to ignore —
is contrary to God’s word? To what teaching
and behavior are people
turning blindfolded eyes? And how
have participated in that, or allowed
it to happen without so much as a
word? Has your church, in her
efforts to attract the world, grown lukewarm,
complacent and
compromising toward God and His
word?
Years ago I personally
experienced this dilemma. As I grew closer to the Lord, it became clearer to me
that the church I was attending, and many of the people in the congregation —
including the pastor — had compromised God’s word. The scales were being painfully
peeled away from my eyes, and, much to my broken heart, it was becoming obvious
to me what I needed to do. My husband was, simultaneously, having his eyes
opened and was moving the same direction. But I didn’t want to leave. I loved those
people. They were dear friends who had seen me through heartache and tragedy,
joy and victory. When God’s directions to me became clear, I lay on the floor,
curled into a ball, and wept. And the Lord spoke to my heart: “Do you love
those people more than you love me?”
He didn’t mince
words. He got right to the essence of the issue, and it was like an arrow shot
through my heart. And I had to ask myself: Who do I love more? Who matters more
to me, and to my life? For my sake, my husband’s sake, and my precious
children’s sake, we had to leave that congregation. We had to say goodbye to
the familiar and venture forth into a different congregation. And we found more
joy, peace, and spiritual strengthening in our new “home” than I ever knew
existed! I remember my thoughts as I sat through our first service there, tears
of joy and wonder streaming down my cheeks: So
this is what I’ve been missing. This is what worship can be like! Thank you,
Lord, for calling us to this place!
So now, on a more personal level, I
ask: Has your heart grown lukewarm toward
God? Have you been too willing to compromise
with the world and allowed it to
infiltrate your life?
Another thing I wrote in my journal on the same day I wrote the
above words
I shared with you was this: “The more involved
in the world I get, the
more I seem to lose peace, the more it seems to wane in my life. The more time I
devote to You, the more it flourishes and reigns.”
And that’s another question today?
Have you allowed the world to
infiltrate your life? Are you now
measuring your standards by the world’s
standards rather than God’s? Is
there someone you have allowed to have
too much influence over you, your
decision making, or your life?
I know it’s not easy, and it can
only be done after intense meditation and prayer for
direction, but sometimes
you must “excise” the offensive doctrine, lifestyle, or
influencer
from your life. Like an alcoholic, you need to go “cold turkey” and give
up all your old drinking buddies and find new friends who enjoy life in more
healthful ways. You need to stop going places you once frequented. You need
to
stay away from negative influences and influencers. Like a surgeon, you
may need
to make some sudden, drastic changes.
In order to have a life of Shalom.
Take a moment right now to ask God
to reveal to you who, or what, in your life you
have allowed to become too much of an influence. Ask Him to reveal to you how you have compromised and pushed Him
away, how doing so has cause peace
to be elusive in your life or damaged or stolen the peace you once enjoyed. Then ask Him for the wisdom on how to rectify
that, and the strength to do what He
directs you to do.
May God strengthen you for the
journey!
Next week we’ll move into Deuteronomy to hunt for Shalom.
Until then, may your week be
full of blessings that you receive and give, your heart be full of joy and thankfulness,
and your days be filled with laughter! Build a little heaven in your life right
now, and watch your heavenly garden grow!
In Christ’s love
and peace,
and Happy Leap
Day!
Andrea
When the eyes of the soul looking
out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on earth. ~ A. W. Tozer
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