God has told Moses that He will send meat for a month. Some people will never get to enjoy it. They get a fleeting moment of feeling happy, but then they are destroyed because of their sin, because of their complaining.

What is this about? Is He lashing out in anger like someone who lacks self-control? No, of course not! We know who He is. Our limited view from our experiences doesn’t define God. He IS. He lives His definition, so we can evaluate and understand our experiences and what our senses see, hear, and feel by who we know Him to be.

God sent a plague to kill those who were complaining, those who were letting their flesh control their thoughts, words, and actions. Why them? What thought were they spreading? That they should return to Egypt, to the land of their oppression and enslavement.

God wasn’t lashing out. He was saving Israel by sending the plague! He was keeping them from returning to slavery. This is how far God will go to save His people, to preserve them. It’s helpful to think of Israel and the Church as one body. He will kill off the cancer in the body to keep the body alive. Paul warned the church that because they weren’t acting rightly towards the Body of Christ, “.. many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor. 11:30).

We have to view sin as deadly. We have to see sin in the body of Christ as that deadly. It’s starts with seeing sin in our own lives as that bad. It’s trying to enslave you, one who has been set free. Any temptation, any justification of the flesh’s desires and longings, it’s a trap trying to ensnare you. It’s wanting to lure you back into slavery.

You have been set free. We are slaves of righteousness! We are no longer slaves to sin. If you are still in slavery to sin, you are an unbeliever, at least in that you haven’t received by faith your victory over sin. You are free and clean and have overcome the power of sin by the blood of the Lamb and the power of His Holy Spirit.

Maybe you’ve asked God to take away your sin, but it’s still there, so you feel justified in continuing in it, as if God failed or somehow gave His consent. You have to do your part and hate the sin. You choose to get rid of it. He will be there to help you. He’s the only one who can set you free from it. You need Him to complete the work. But you have to make the choice. It must die. It’s that serious. Put down the flesh and live in the freedom of the Spirit.