February 12, 2009
Today Read: Numbers 25, 31
Tomorrow Read: Numbers 26

It will be more difficult to follow along if you are not reading “The Daily Bible” In Chronological Order 365 Daily Readings. Published by Harvest House. It is a great 15 dollar investment.

Numbers 25 Don’t Let Your Hormone Guide Your Life.

The Midianites realized they could not physical destroy the Israelites so they planned on luring them into bed. Guys have a tendency to be directed by their hormones more than their brains. Sorry guys, but this is absolutely true. So these guys jumped into bed with these women and a plague wipes out 24,000 of them. AIDS has wiped out a lot more than that. Right now in NYC one in four people have herpes.
In today’s politically correct culture this passage makes no sense. If Phinehas were on Jerry Springer he would have been booed off stage. The Israelites were just expressing themselves. Who are you Phinehas to say what is right and wrong sexually? Young people just do these things, the best we can do is to buy condoms for them. This is part of the new economic stimulus bill. Sin of any kind is always grievous but sin that destroys the family evokes the highest of response from a holy God. God is for families. His design is for the family to be strong and secure, to be the foundation upon which moral character is built in the next generation. When the family goes, so goes society. That is why God wants it to be one man, one woman for a lifetime of intimacy and love.


Here is a written thought I keep close to me during times of temptation:

If I go further down this road, I will probably grieve the One who redeemed me. I will probably drag His sacred name into the mud, which I know leads to unbelievers laughing at Christianity. One day I will have to look Jesus, the righteous Savior, in the face and give an account of my actions. If I go farther I will probably inflict untold hurt on my wife Kathie, who is my best friend and who has been faithful to me. I will lose my wife's respect and trust: I will hurt my beloved sons and daughter. I will destroy my example and credibility with my children. I might lose my wife and my children forever. I would cause incredible shame and reproach to fall upon my family. I would lose self-respect. I could create a form of guilt awfully hard to shake. Even though God would forgive me, would I ever be able to forgive myself. I could form memories and flashbacks that could plague future intimacy with my spouse. I could heap judgment and endless difficulty on the person with whom I committed adultery. I could possibly reap the consequences of disease like gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes or AIDS. Maybe I could cause a pregnancy, and that would be a lifelong reminder of my sin.
As a man of God I am not a victim of my hormones nor a slave to the seductions of the world. Through Christ I can control every thought that passes through my mind. Real men of God allow God's power to keep them from such senseless sin.

Thought for today: What method do you think Satan is using today to destroy our young men and women? Is there any possibility that he is seducing them into sexual promiscuity for the purpose of destroying their lives and future happiness?

Not much has changed in 3000 years.