Take Full Vengeance!

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC Just before Israel was to enter the Promised Land, God sent them to utterly destroy the Midianites, who had introduced into the camp, through their woman, immorality and idolatry, with severe consequences. Then Israel took matters into their own hands and spared the lives of the Midianite women!  It is so easy to see their error, yet what sins have we allowed to "come into our midst?"  Destroy them!

Looking at the story in its full context we are faced with the diabolical plan of Satan to destroy the nation of Israel.  If it couldn't be done by military force, then the next plan would surely succeed:  destroy them from the inside out!  As Israel was making their way to the Promised Land they encountered the Moabite-Midianite people.  This group was God-less but full of false gods and idols, and they were immoral as well.  As they intermingled with the Israelites, God's chosen people began to "sleep with the enemy" and participate in the worship of their gods.  As a result, God sent a plague on His own people to eradicate the sin from them.  In one day 24,000 perished for their sin.  It appeared that Satan's plan was working.

Now, cleansed from their personal immorality and idolatry, Israel is about to cross over into the Promised Land.  But not before they obeyed the command of the Lord to go back and annihilate the people who had led them astray.  God's exact words were, "Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites."  There could have been no misunderstanding of what 'full vengeance' meant.  God wanted the enemy utterly destroyed!  But as so often happens, these military men decided to take matters into their own hands.  It seems as if the voice of Satan must surely have whispered to them, "Did God really want you to destroy all of these beautiful women.  Kill the men.  They can kill you.  But you don't want to kill these women.  Bring them back; make them your wives."

And that is exactly what Israel did.  They disobeyed the voice of both God and Moses.  They followed their own hearts instead of leading them!  They thought they had done a good thing.  As a matter of fact, what they did was the cultural norm of the day.  Imagine their great surprise when Moses openly confronts their sin and demands that they obey what God said!  Any woman of consensual age must be killed for they were the greater enemy!

Looking at the broader application for us, we can't miss the obvious. Those things that seem the least "deadly" are sometimes bought, quite intentionally, into our midst  with absolutely no fear.   It is time to open our eyes to the reality that the "smallest sin" has the potential to be the very thing that destroys our witness and testimony before others.  Any idol (the things we elevate above God on a daily basis) will destroy us quicker than the "global issues" of the world.  God is looking for personal holiness.  He desires our heart to be filled only with Himself.  He calls to us today to take FULL vengeance on everything that draws our hearts away from Him.  What have you allowed into your midst, thinking that it is perfectly safe?  Today should be the beginning of your spiritual battle to destroy the "enemy in the camp."  That is spiritual healing!  That is overcoming victory!