Jesus, the Eternal Rock delights to walk with us. This is a great privilege for those of us who have given our lives to Him. He guides and guards us. He comforts and convicts us. He wraps us in His unfailing love and cherishes us.
Yet, as Jesus walks with us, we have a duty to walk with Him too. As much as He cares for us in every way, walking with Him demands that we please Him. Paul, the Apostle, warns us to learn from Israel in the wilderness. Jesus went along with them, leading, protecting and providing for them; He led them by the cloud and through the sea; He gave them water from the Rock, manna from heaven as well as quails. Even then most of them did not please God. He destroyed them in the desert.. – 1 Corinthians 10:5
Why would God love, lead, protect and provide for a people and still destroy them?
God operates by principles. God, in His nature, is loving, merciful and faithful but also holy and just. I Corinthians 10 explains this, looking at the life of the Israelites in their journey towards the Promised Land. We will look at what the text says about “All of them,” “Most of them” and “Some of them”.
All of them
All of them is mentioned 5 times in this text:
- All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them… Verse 1
- … all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. Verse 1
- In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. Verse 2
- All of them ate the same spiritual food… Verse 3
- … all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Verse 4
All of them received blessings from the Lord. Corporate anointing brings God’s blessings on all. God also blesses both the just and the unjust as Jesus taught us. Matthew 5:44-46. This is God’s universal love and blessings on His creation. So, receiving God’s blessings is only based on God’s pleasure and mercy, not our merit. Blessings should not be an excuse to remain in sin and ungodliness. Rather, we gain the opportunity to seek, know, love, trust and obey God through His provisions and providences.
Most of them
Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Verse 5
God was not pleased with most of them because some of them did this or that ungodly thing as He walked with them. They thought what they did with their lives did not matter but they faced the consequences. We are commanded to do things that are pleasing to God. 1 John 3:22. As we do so, we enter into more blessings from God and He gives us whatever we ask Him within His pleasure and all-knowing will as our gracious and loving Father.
Many times, the path most people choose is wrong. The right way is less traveled as it cannot accommodate sin. Jesus warns in Matthew 7:13-14, You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Some of them
- 6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”
- 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
- 9 Nor should we put Christ[c]to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.
- 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.
Some of them desired evil things which their loving God forbade. Some of them worshipped idols or other gods; they lost their loyalty to the only true God as they allowed other things to take His place in their hearts and lives. Some of them indulged in revelry, which is, “lively and noisy festivities, especially when these involve drinking a large amount of alcohol.” They lacked self-control and discipline. Some of them also engaged in sexual immorality – any sexual practice outside of marriage. Some of them put Christ, the Rock to the test by complaining against the Lord and Moses. Finally, some of them kept grumbling, murmuring and complaining. Nothing satisfied them. They did not have hearts of thanks or gratitude. They kept looking back, so they could not move forward in their walk with the Lord.
It is unfortunate to find some of us assume we can engage in the wrong things above and others mentioned in other parts of the scriptures. We expect that we would not face God’s judgement, either here on earth or in eternity. The Lord forbids sin in every sense. Romans 6:1-2. God is holy. When He walks with us, He calls us to holiness. 1 Peter 1:14-16. Deuteronomy 23:14
Holiness is not God’s requirement for some but for all. Leviticus 19:2. So we don’t have to be a priest, pastor or Christian leader to be holy. All believers must be holy. 1 Peter 2:9
Conclusion
All these things serve as warning for us today. 1 Corinthians 10: 6, 10 No wonder the Apostle, Paul, cautioned himself also in the previous chapter. In 1Corinthians 9:27, he states that he applied continual discipline to his body to stop it from wrong cravings so that he would not be cast away after preaching to others. If the Apostle needed that, so do we. Thankfully, God gives His strength and grace while we also watch against carelessness. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13. May we enjoy the grace of our loving Saviour and Lord as we walk with Him. (Amen)
Trust and Obey. For a YouTube version, please go to the bottom of this post.
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When we walk with the Lord In the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way; While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. |
| Trust and obey, For there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey. |
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Not a shadow can rise, Not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away; Not a doubt or a fear, Not a sigh or a tear, Can abide while we trust and obey. |
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Not a burden we bear, Not a sorrow we share, But our toil He doth richly repay; Not a grief or a loss, Not a frown or a cross, But is blest if we trust and obey. |
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But we never can prove The delights of His love, Until all on the altar we lay; For the favor He shows, And the joy He bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey. |
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Then in fellowship sweet We will sit at His feet, Or we’ll walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do; Where He sends, we will go, Never fear, only trust and obey. |
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