Paul points out the example of the Israelites in the wilderness. Their experiences are an example for the church. There’s nothing new under the sun. We are just like Israel. And in fact, we are part of Israel as believers.

The children of God all were led by God in the cloud. They all passed through the “baptism” of the Red Sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, manna, and drank the same spiritual drink, water from the Rock. And yet, most die in the wilderness because they anger God.

They were idolaters. They joined in the worship of the Baal of Peor, an idol, and a plague killed over twenty thousand of them in a day. They complain against their God and are destroyed by the plague of serpents.

The warning is to not think you are strong, lest you fall. The Israelites fell to these plagues because they first fell to the sins. There is a way of escape, a way out of any temptation. Jesus is The Way. Jesus is the Way of Escape. Our ability to endure is relying on Jesus. Flesh is weak. Jesus is strong and more than able. We believe in our salvation. We, by faith, know that we are dead to self. We know that we no longer desire after those things. By faith, we respond to wrong thoughts, “That’s not who I am in Christ. That me is dead. That’s not what I desire. I am a new creation and I live to please God and all my desire is for Christ. What I want is His way.” If you are in a situation and being tempted, call out to Jesus to rescue you! He is a savior! He is our rescuer!

Paul’s plea is to flee from idolatry. We may not have altars set up to demons, though they exist still today, but we have plenty of idols in America and in the West.

All that you put your trust in is an idol. All that you seek your comfort from is an idol. All that you consult in order to know the future is an idol. All that you turn to in order to seek wisdom and understanding is an idol.

Anything we put in the place of God is an idol. Anything we’re seeking after that’s not God Himself is an idol. It doesn’t matter how “good” it is. It was idolatry for me to seek to conform to an image of a godly wife instead of to the image of Christ. Plus, it was idolatry looking to a person (reading a book) to tell me how to live, how to be a godly wife, instead of looking to God.

We seek the Lord. We seek the good of our neighbor. Love God. Love others. Keep it simple.