Fitting In (with the Faith crowd)

“ . . . Yet God was not pleased with most of them, so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.”
1 Corinthians 10:5

A rather unsettling verse, don’t you  think?   The “surprise ending” of that verse made me want to go back and read what came just before it.

Here’s what directly preceded this jolting verse written by Paul:

• “They were united with Moses by baptism in the Cloud and in the sea.  
• All of them ate the same spiritual food 
• and all of them drank the same spiritual drink.  
• They drank from the spiritual Rock that went with them, and that Rock was Christ.  
• Yet God was not pleased with most of them, so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.”   (personal comment:  What a zinger ending line!!! Hadn’t seen that coming!))

The wandering million of God’s people were finally free of Egypt’s slavery.  They were headed to their Promised Land, under the leadership of God’s Man, Moses.  They were all walking the same path. . . eating the same food . . . trudging through the same hot sand  . . . adhering to the same rules, customs and Laws, and hearing the same messages that Moses relayed to them from God Himself.  

By all appearances, they were all part of the same “group” . . . the same “family of God.”

They followed the same rules, walking the same route, under the same leadership.  They even all wore the same clothes (unfortunately for most of the women, I would imagine!)  And this went on for 40 years!!

As we know, they did eventually come to their Promised Land and became a Nation / a People of God Himself.  

But their story contains all of the raw realities of Sin’s influence . . . even in God’s own, beloved people. Even if you’re clearly part of the group.  They had left Egypt, but godless Egypt had not left their minds and hearts.  You may be blended in well with the People of God, but God isn’t so concerned with how well you are doing in the crowd.  He is looking at your mind and heart.