Thoughts from the Desert

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For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. — Hebrews 4:12

As I came off the C-130 that just landed and began to unload my belongings, I was met by the non-commissioned officer whom I was sent to replace. It was the early morning hours in Iraq, but already the sun was up and the temperature was rising. As we set out from the airport and embarked on the thirty minute drive to the office out of which I would begin working, I began to tune into my new surroundings. The pot-hole filled roads jostled our Explorer back-and-forth, but my mind was also jostled by what I was hearing on the radio—musical lyrics glorifying matters of “the flesh.”And on my first shopping trip I could also see the wide-range of commodities being readily offered—everything from electronics and shoes to violent video games and pornography. Just like in the States, the temptations are all available. I knew I must be careful—and staying in God’s word would be invaluable to my time here.

So I took this time while deployed to read through the Bible from cover-to-cover. I decided to read through the Old Testament six days a week and then the New Testament one day a week. It was exciting to see what God taught me, reminded me, and how He moved my heart as I examined His word. It was a special time to think, and I had the opportunity to ponder what God has to say about temptation and sin—my own included.

One night I read this passage in Deuteronomy which really caused me to think about how Christians are to feel about the seriousness of sin:

“If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.”— Deuteronomy 21:1-9

We are prone to read these Old Testament verses thinking that they have nothing to say to us today, but such was not the case the night I was studying. Here, Moses reveals an illustration of how Israel was to react to the sins of others, and I think this has real application in my life and the lives of Christians. Just as Israel was to mourn over the secret murder of a man, and Israel was to sacrifice a heifer to God as atonement for this sin, Christians are to mourn over the sin of others just as much as we mourn over our own sin. We can look around today and see Satan’s hand in communities and societies—and often see it buried and disguised within other ideologies, covered up in people’s private lives, praised in our entertainment culture, and displayed in political and corporate corruption and hypocrisy. Even the church is not untainted by sin’s curse and Satan’s attack.

What should our reaction as Christians be? According to Deuteronomy 21:1-9, we are to mourn over sin. We are to ask the Father to forgive our wicked ways, to show His mercy and grace on our world. We are to pray, “Forgive Your people whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people.” We should agree with Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” and Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

I was moved by my reading and my spirit was impressed to pray, “Father, we thank You for Your mercy and grace. We thank You for Your faithfulness to deliver Your people from the penalty of sin. We thank You for salvation, and for the hope of Christ’s return which will completely deliver us from the effects of sin. Father, we mourn over our own sin and the sin that we see committed around us. We know that it is an abomination to You and that You hate anything contrary to who You are. We ask that You forgive us for turning from You and indulging in sin. Father, we ask that You would keep us from sin and that we would not even desire its pleasures, that You would teach us to discipline our bodies, that You would teach us to walk in Your ways, and derive our pleasure completely from You. We ask that You would change our hearts that we would mourn over sin, and that we would be so close to You that we would be sensitive to the sin around us, and we would run from it. I especially pray this for myself, Father. Keep me pure.”

Questions to Share:

1. Is your conscience troubled by sin in your midst, no matter where you live?

2. Is your desire to go to God, asking for forgiveness, for your own sin and the sins of others?