Fri.’s Devo - The Beginning of Israel’s Downfall

Read: Numbers 24:1-25:18; Luke 2:1-35; Psalm 59:1-17; Proverbs 11:14
Balak took Balaam to a third place, Peor, thinking that maybe God would allow Balaam to curse Israel there. Balaam didn’t resort to his enchantments but let God speak through him. He saw a vision of the Almighty and spoke while in a trance. He blessed Israel once again making Balak really mad. Balaam lost the honor and the riches Balak would have given him because Balaam understood the spiritual realm. He was not allowed to go beyond the commandment of God.
Balaam even gave a prophecy about what Israel would do in the latter days. He saw Jesus as the Star of Jacob and his kingship. Amalek would be crushed and God would conquer the Roman and the Greek empires.
After that, the Israelites fell into the worship of the god, Chemosh whose worship included sexual perversion and licentiousness. God took these leaders and had them killed and exposed in broad daylight. That is exactly what God does to leaders who engage in sexual sins - they get exposed for the world to see.
One of the leaders brought one of the Midianite women into the camp to have sex with. They walked right past Moses unashamedly. Aaron took a spear in his hand, entered their tent and drove a spear right through both of their bodies. This stopped the plague that God had unleashed because of their sin. What Aaron did was a picture of what we should do to get rid of the curse of sin. The sword is the Word of God and he used that against the sin. If we would apply the Word of God to the way we govern our lives, our families, and our nation, then there would not be a plague in our land.
In Luke, we read the birth of our Savior. I love the people that got to hear the news first, like the shepherds who were keeping watch over sacrificial lambs for the temple. I wonder if they had spent nights looking at the stars and conversing over the day that the Messiah would come. The next was the old prophet, Simeon who had spent his days waiting for the Messiah to appear on earth. Jesus came to the outcast and the humble and he put down the proud and the prominent.
Lord, may we fear you with awe and respect and love.