Remember How You Were Tempted

Note from today’s Bible reading: Numbers 31-32

Near the end of Moses’ life, God instructed him to send the Israelites to war against the Midianites (Numbers 31:1-2). This was to “execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian” (Numbers 31:3) because of how they had deceived the Israelites and brought a plague upon them (Numbers 25:17-18).

When they went, they “killed every male” (Numbers 31:7) but “captured the women” (Numbers 31:9). However, Moses condemned them for this: “Behold, these [the women] caused the sons of Israel…to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord” (Numbers 31:16). Because these women were also guilty, they were not to be spared.

Though we live under a different law today, there are some similarities to the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4; Ephesians 6:12). The Midianite women led the sons of Israel to sin; therefore, they were not to be spared. Today, we are to “lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1). Whatever has led us into sin in the past, we must not allow it to do so again.

So remember how you were tempted. Do not allow stumbling blocks to remain in your life if you have the ability to remove them. We must do all we can to avoid the sins we committed in the past.