Daily Devotional for Tuesday, July 15

The Apostasy Committed by Israel

“But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness,” 1 Corinthians 10:5

“I knew I should have made that left turn at Albuquerque.” Anyone who grew up on Looney Tunes knows exactly what I am talking about. Bugs Bunny frequently ended up burrowing to the wrong place and blamed it on a wrong turn in this New Mexico town. The idea was simple: one wrong move can take you to a very bad place.

The Israelites who were headed to the Promised Land ended up in a very bad place as well, but their issue was not just one bad turn but a multiplicity of bad turns. They committed idolatry (verse 7) and fornication (verse 8), they tempted Christ (verse 9) and they murmured (verse 10). Our text laid out a whole series of wrong turns. Because of these, Paul said they were “overthrown” (verse 5). God was not pleased, and ultimately because of the episode at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 14), God condemned a whole generation to die in the wilderness.

What if, somewhere along the way, they could have collectively said, “Stop”? Could they have stayed off their overthrow? I think so. God seemed more than willing to give them chance after chance.

Likewise, individuals sometimes end up in a very bad place, even a place of seeming no return. Typically, it’s not one wrong turn, but a series of wrong turns. A smile turns into friendly banter which turns into flirting which turns into intimate talk which turns into adultery. One wrong turn follows another, leading to a horrible sin. Sin does that, leading us step by step into its trap. When you see that first bad step, fix it, repent of it and flee it. Do not let one bad turn lead to another.

REFLECTION

Let one sin go unchecked, and then you have two. Repent of the one and be clean.

Jason Rutherford