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Obey All the Way |
Hello brothers and sisters.
I hope that you have been keeping up with your
studies. Our Joshua Generation characteristic this month is
obedience with the slogan, “Obey all the way.” The memory verse
this week is Col. 3:20. Our study this week is about obedience
“from the heart”. It comes from an event during the Mosaic
dispensation in the time period of the wilderness wanderings.
That theme of “obedience from the heart” is hidden in the text
for our study, Numbers 22:1-24:25. I hope you find the story
interesting enough to read it through. However, you will not
have the complete picture until you know the “rest of the
story,” as Paul Harvey would say. The rest of the story is found
in two passages, Num. 31:1-16 and 2 Pet. 2:15. Let’s learn some
lessons from this O.T. event.
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The appearance of obedience can be deceiving.
Balaam went through all the right motions. When he was
approached about cursing Israel, he rightly said that he must
find out what the Lord would say to him about Israel (22:8).
When God said he could not curse them, he sent the princes of
Balak away with “no” for an answer. We find out later that
Balaam’s action did not match Balaam’s heart. This is much like
the hypocrites that Jesus addressed in Mt. 23 who would, “for a
pretence, make long prayer,” and then go “devour widows houses.”
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Balaam refused to “preach for money.” When
Balak sent more officials with an offer of riches and power to
convince him to come curse Israel, Balaam rightly said, “If
Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot
go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.” But
again, his heart was not behind his words. Jesus told us that
the mouth speaks out of the attitudes that fill the heart (Mt.
12:34). He also pointed out that one of the sins that can find a
dwelling in the heart is deceit (Mk. 7:21-22). With the
intention to deceive, our words may often not express our true
feelings. Jesus commended Nathaniel because his heart harbored
no deceit (guile) (Jn. 1:47). We are told that our life will be
greatly enhanced if we speak no guile (1 Pet. 3:10-11). Do your
lips speak truthfully? Are your compliments honest? Do you “fess
up” when you should or do you make excuses? Our obedience needs
to be from the heart.
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A clue to Balaam’s unfaithfulness (even though
we do not have the whole story in the O.T.) is the fact that he
continued to consort and flirt with the folks bringing Balak’s
offers. God had already told him the way he thought of Israel.
He should have turned his back and refused to hear any offers
from Balak. Sometimes, when we appear to holding the line in
obedience, we are really chafing at the restrictions and trying
to get as close as we can to sin without actually sinning. At
best, this is a sinful attitude. Thus, a young person might hang
out with the wrong crowd even though they do not plan to do some
of the things they do. An adult might allow trash to come into
his house through the TV or radio even though they would not
live the lifestyle projected. Eventually, our desire for and
consorting with sin will pull us from our Lord. Our disobedient
thinking can often be seen in the incidentals of our lives
rather than the big events.
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God knew the rebellion in Balaam’s heart (2
Pet. 2:15) as he does ours when it is there (Heb. 4:13). Let’s
be sure that our obedience is not only in appearance, but “from
the heart” (Rom. 6:17). Jesus said of the Jews, “This people
draweth nigh to me with their mouth and honoreth me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mt. 15:9). Their worship
to God was thus vain, empty.
I hope these few thoughts are helpful to your
growth in obedience.
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Studies by Mike Glenn |
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The
church of Christ
