I am on a trip that I will not talk about here, but we share devotions every morning and this was mine a while back. I really like to challenge thoughts, ideas, words, phrases that I basically just accepted when I am became a Christian so here ya go, i can’t easily get the bible passage up, so you need to you look it up on you own – gasp.
What is sin at its base? At its core? I have heard it explained as a shortcut to the glory of the Garden of Eden. Maybe that has a ringing of truth to it.
In Numbers 13 and 14 there is a good example of the people of Israel sinning. The Isrealites, coming from slavery and bondage in Eygpt, have now come to enter the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Moses sends some spies to look at the land and well, spie it out. Ten of twelve come back and speak of how horrible it would be to conquer the inhabitants because of how huge and many the people are, of how massive their fortified walls are around there cities. It is hopeless. Only two of the twelve stand up and say, ‘hey you idiots, look at what God has done already for us!” God had aleady brought them out of slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm – parting the red sea; raining down manna from heaven; leading them with a gigantic pillar of fire and smoke. It is obvious that the Lord is with them. So the people listened to the ten rather then the twelve. They all grumbled and complained actually thinking that they would have been better off to be back in slavery and bondage in Egypt and were about to take a vote to elect a leader to take them back there! Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb tried to appeal to the people and they took stones to kill them! It was only the glory of the Lord appearing around them that saved them!
Read Numbers 14: 1 – 38
Harsh things happen when you reject the Lord. The people then, maybe thinking of how bad it would it be to go through the wilderness for forty years decided to go to battle. So they go out with out Moses, Aaron or the Ark of the Covenant. They go out in their own strength. They were in turn slaughtered just as they feared they would be when God was on their side.
Read Numbers 14: 39 – 45.
I think that that is a pretty good example of sin. But we can sit here and say, how stupid where those guys?
Just before I left read a blog plost that mentioned this passage.
Luke 8:26 – 39
Perharps ths is the best definition of sin there is: verse 37. Rejecting Jesus as King and making ourselves the center of our attention and striving to work and accomplish things in our own strength making a name for ourselves or working for own self-satisfaction. Rejection of the King. Re-read verse 37.
