Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

Two things are hard to believe, yea three are mind boggling—the fact that it’s already the 19th of February, the incredible beauty of this morning, and the fact that you’re reading this stuff.

Moving right along, I have a huge list before me. Wish I could upgrade the speed of my cranial computer and my list might not be so long. Oh well…we can only do what we can do.

May your day be touched by your sense of His presence. Of course, He IS present with or without any sensations. Perhaps just knowing that enhances the sense. You think? I think.

Love, Dad/Ray.

As I try to comprehend the account of chapter 31 which records the wiping out of the Midianites, the massacre of so many people, the capture of non-warriors, then the additional order to kill the captives who were boys and non-virgin females, I find myself squirming again with offended anguish. It violates my entire range of New Testament missionary motives and appreciation of cross-cultural anthropology. However, I find myself being rescued from depression by recognizing underlying principles at large. Moses recounted some important background facts when he reprimanded the military commanders for returning from the battle with far too many living prisoners—“’Have you allowed all the women to live?’ he asked them. ‘They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD’S people’” (30:16). Moses understood that any residue of known sin that is allowed to remain and cohabitate will grow and develop into a snare of failure over time. In a later encounter, Moses says what has become a quip of warning—one I’ve heard since I was a kid—“…you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (32:23).

However we put together the pieces of this difficult puzzle, a bottom-line principle truth looms tall—serving God effectively is an all or nothing deal. It calls for passion—a love for God and what He loves that will be regarded by the opposition as fanatical. (It doesn’t matter that many of them are fanatical in their hatred toward those who are fanatical about loving God.) Half-commitment, partial obedience, limited surrender, and incomplete repentance has never delivered the best benefits over time. In this regard, one of the best capsules of New Testament advice we could ever hear is Hebrews 12:1-2—“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”