Once again in today’s passage, the nation of Israel, like so many of us, are seduced into sin and disobedience with tragic consequences. Remember the garden of Eden and the fall of Adam and Eve where the forbidden fruit is described? One of the specifics that so attracted Eve and then Adam to disobey was that the fruit they consumed that ultimately doomed mankind to the penalty of death and scarred all of creation was “pleasing to the eye.” Even before sin had occurred, man was apparently subject to the appeal of something that looked pretty. How often in our contemporary world do we see people of faith, well-known and respected leaders, brought down to humiliation and ruin by lust and covetousness. Sadly, we hear new stories every day of lives and ministries devastated by immoral indulgence.

Verse three of the passage succinctly explains the problem. “So, Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them” (Numbers 25:3, NIV). Certainly, the Israelites did not wake up one morning and decide they wanted the Lord’s anger to burn against them, but by their foolish and unbelievably self-indulgent decision to worship an idol instead of the one true God, the resulting plague killed 24,000 of them. The thing about sin is that it ALWAYS brings about unintended and painful consequences. Like the Israelites in this historical account, or Eve and Adam all the way back in the garden, we seem so easily led astray by unhealthy things that attract our attention.

In the explanation of the fruit of the Spirit, Paul lists several attributes evident in the spiritual life that bears fruit. The final fruit listed in Galatians 5:23 is “self-control.” It is in Spirit-provided self-control that we find the answer to the onslaught of temptations that threaten destruction.

Lord, let the self-control provided by your Spirit within me keep me in obedience to you and protect me from destruction. AMEN

Joe Pritchett, Garner, N.C.

Extended Scripture: Numbers 24–27