Numbers 25:2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

I generally don’t get lost when I drive. Most of the time I have a good sense of direction, but I also have my GPS going. If I take a wrong turn, it will alert me and show me how to get back on track. In the days before GPS, I might be going somewhere and realize after the fact that I had missed a turn. What to do? Keep going and hope for the best? No! Generally,  the only solution was to go back. Not all the way home, but to where I went wrong.

The Israelites were progressing through Moab and now they are deeply involved in Moabite ways. This was much more than trying out the local cuisine! They were worshiping their false gods! How did they get here?! What happened? Weren’t they on their way to the Promised Land? Well, no. They had been. But not now.

They already got to the Promised Land. They had been delivered from slavery in Egypt by God through Moses. They had been given the Law and directed supernaturally to the Promised Land. But when they got there they pulled back. They refused to go in. They seemingly forgot all the ways that God had helped them over the past year and let their fear and stubbornness keep them from going in - from obeying God. So now they were wandering. They were on journey, but not to the Promised Land. This new journey led them to terrible sin.

On our faith journey we often come to crossroads. Places where we are presented very clearly with a decision: will we follow God - will we obey Him, or not? If we obey the Lord we will be strengthened in our faith and draw closer to God and proceed on our faith journey. If we disobey, whether through fear, or whatever, we sin. We will, at that point, begin to go in the wrong direction. The longer we go in the wrong direction, the further off course we will be. Do we just keep going and hope for the best? No! We have to go back to where we went wrong.

We might like to downplay sin - disobedience to God. But He does not. We might like to forget about it. But He does not. The answer is not to find a way to deal with our guilty conscience. The answer is to go back to where we sinned and ask forgiveness. God will forgive us if we ask! But we have to ask. Without that confession and repentance, we may still be on a journey, but it can’t be called a faith journey! And it won’t lead anywhere good!

Blessings,

Pastor Russ