“Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Matthew 4:1-10

God has given the Israelites all they need.  God has protected them from harm with a way of life that is best for them.  God gave them a simple list of commands so all will go well with them.  Now God is leading them to possess the land flowing with milk and honey He promised them generations earlier.  All they need to do is trust God and do what He says. 

However, there are people groups already residing in the promised land that do not believe or follow God. They know only enough about God to hate Him and His interference in their lives.  They have their own established culture of demeaning behaviors that dishonor mankind—all that is opposite God’s Law. They murder their own children by sacrificing them to various gods.  They perform demeaning sexual acts that harm all who participate in the orgies of evil.  They manipulate to maintain their way of life.  Because they fear that an end is coming to their nation because of the Israelite subsequent invasion; they create a plan to seduce the men of Israel.

The men fell for the deceit and turned from God to worship the gods of evil.  These Israelite men all God had to offer to willingly be bonded and yoked with evil.  God is not pleased and knows this disease of sinning dishonorably against Him and other Israelites must be halted before the rest of the Israelite nation is infected and succumb to it.

Numbers 25

Moab Seduces Israel

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³ So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”

⁵ So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”

⁶ Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷ When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand ⁸ and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; ⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. ¹² Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. ¹³ He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

¹⁴ The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. ¹⁵ And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. ¹⁸ They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God is a covenant-keeping God.  What He says; He will do.

God makes promises; Then He delivers on His promises.

“The LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors” (Joshua 21:43). Specifically, God gave Abraham a promise. “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’”(Genesis 12:7). That was six hundred years earlier! Who believed it would happen?

When Abraham died, the only land he owned was Sarah’s cemetery plot. His descendants were sharecroppers at best, slaves at worst, in Egypt for four centuries. Moses led them near but never into Canaan.

God promised to bless Abraham and, through Abraham’s seed, all the nations of the earth. “I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2–3). This was the promise partially fulfilled in Joshua. And this is the promise completely fulfilled in Jesus.

In Jesus ALL the nations are blessed. In Jesus every person has hope and the possibility of redemption. The apostle Paul wrote, “The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ” (2Corinthians 1:20 NCV).

Yes! Our God is a promise-keeping God. Others may make a promise and forget it. But if God makes a promise, he keeps it. “He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

Knowing God is faithful and believing in His promises matters to our ultimate response to God.  We panic in times of trouble and wonder; does God’s integrity as a promise keeper and faithful provider and redeemer really make a difference?  When a loved one is in ER and we pace the floor in the hall of not knowing, it matters.  In those times we all must choose.  Faith or fear?  Do we choose God’s purpose or a random life of experiences without God?  Do we choose God who knows and cares or a god who isn’t there?  We all must choose.  Our response will reflect our real belief.

We all choose.

It stands to reason that to trust God who knows all and is in all with all the details of our lives is the best and most fulfilling response.  The best way to begin is to dive into His Word.  Choose a few promises from the Bible and trust in them for your life, your family, your finances, and your body.

Consistently thank God for always fulfilling His promises to us and for being reliable regarding all He says in His word.  Great IS His faithfulness!  There is no turning back.

Lord,

Thank you for warning us of impending trouble. Thank you for providing all we need in Jesus to be delivered from evil who distracts us while deceiving us with attempts to dismantle our faith in God.  There is power in the Name of you, dear Jesus!  Thank you for your power, even in our doubts, to stand on your promises. Thank you for always being with us.  Thank you for loving us forever and always.

In Jesus Name, Amen