Numbers 24-25

“These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods” (25:2).  While God was protecting His people from the cursing and direct attacks of the Moabites (v 22-24), the Israelites invited the enemy into their camp voluntarily. Through sexual temptation and idolatry, the Israelites opened themselves to God’s judgment, and “those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand” (25:9).  Wanting to be like the pagan cultures around them, the Israelites became their own worst enemies.

Rather than fear outside attacks, God calls us to pay attention to our own hearts.  At peace with Him, we become “like gardens beside a river” (24:6).