LITTLE BY LITTLE
Today's reading: Numbers 24-25, Luke 1:57-2:20, Psalm 58

"While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men defiled themselves by sleeping with the local Moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, and soon the Israelites were feasting with them and worshiping the gods of Moab." Numbers 25:1-2 NLT

I will, with a personal guarantee, assure you the Israelite fellas who were led astray by the Moabite women never intended for things to go as far as they did.

They didn't leave their tents that morning with immorality and idolatry on their minds.

They didn't spend time formulating a plan on how to walk away from God.

They never considered themselves ones who could so easily be tempted and fall.

We don't either.

It's always gradual. Little things. Subtle changes. We are often separated from God by choices that turn us by fractional degrees rather than deliberate changes in our plans.

So we have to be very, very careful who we 'sleep with'.

We have to watch the thoughts we allow to grow in our minds.

We have to be very careful of the grudges we harbor.

We have to think through what we believe to be best, rather than what just feels tolerable or acceptable.

We have to limit the ungodly influences we let into our day.

We have to learn to say 'no' to the wrong things and 'yes' to the godly ones.

We have to determine that time with God is more important than other things.

We have to put aside our desire to place God-sized character traits on people, and in turn no longer be let down by humans.

Or we will, like these Israelite men, find ourselves seated at the banquet table of our enemy--and never realize how it was we even got there.