Numbers 33:55 (KJV) Don’t Excuse What Will Destroy

Numbers 33:55 (KJV)

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

I tend to apply passages such as this to the sin problem in my own flesh. The New Testament teaches us to “mortify the deeds of the flesh.” If I allow any trace of sin a place in my life—if I justify it, excuse it, or take pleasure in it—not only am I opposing the Word of God, but I am also setting myself up for trouble. As this passage puts it, those sins become “pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides.”

I try to be as non-judgmental of others as I can (though I admit I fail often) because I already have all I can do to judge what’s going on in this flesh of mine.

But there are many—perhaps the majority—who choose not to apply passages like this personally. They can only see the brutality of the text. Here’s the harsh reality: generally, those who take that approach also turn a blind eye to how truly terrible humanity is when unrestrained.

• They blame the gun, not the gunman, for mass shootings.
• They blame society, not the individual, for crime.
• Some even deny the Holocaust ever happened—or at least that it was as bad as history records.

The fact is, we do not know just how evil the Canaanites were. We forget that God’s judgment, unlike ours, is perfect. We make mistakes. He does not. To put God on trial for what we cannot understand is to put Him on the same level as ourselves. And that is really the problem: people have made themselves a god before God.

Closing Thought:
I learned about the tragic shooting of Charlie Kirk several hours after I wrote this Daily Visit with God. In light of his murder, this truth struck me even harder. Sin left unchecked in the heart and mind always leads to destruction. Whether in my own life or in society at large, what is not mortified will grow into thorns that wound, corrupt, and destroy. Only by humbling ourselves before the perfect judgment of God, and clinging to His righteousness, can we hope to overcome the evil that so deeply plagues this world.

#MortifyTheFlesh #SinDestroys #GodsJudgmentIsPerfect #HolinessMatters #ThornsInTheSide

Don’t Excuse What Will Destroy: Tolerated Sin Turns Deadly

👉 Sin tolerated will always grow into thorns that wound the soul. God’s Word in Numbers 33:55 warns us of the danger of leaving sin unchecked. The real question is: Are you excusing sin—or mortifying it through Christ?

💬 What do you think—why do so many people today excuse sin instead of confronting it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

📲 Hungry for more solid, biblical teaching? Visit marvinmckenzie.org for Bible studies, videos, and resources rooted in the King James Bible.

👉 Join our community in studying God’s Word and strengthening your faith.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6800 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Numbers 33:55 (KJV) Don’t Excuse What Will Destroy

Numbers 31:16 (KJV) The Counsel of Balaam

Numbers 31:16 (KJV)

Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

Balaam attempted to walk a very fine line between obeying God and enjoying the rewards of worldliness. The Bible never says he cursed Israel, but it does say he taught Israel to sin through compromise. It also tells us that he lived for reward.

I am concerned that there is far more “counsel of Balaam” among us today than we care to admit or even recognize. Balaam seemed to have a sincere desire to obey the Lord. He heard from God, and there were even lines of worldliness he would not cross. Yet he was never willing to come out from the world and be separate. He could not take that extreme step. He would not teach, preach, or insist that God’s people must refuse relationships with the world.

• How could one get ahead in life with such an extreme stance?
• How could a preacher ever expect to gain or keep a congregation?
• How could the next generation ever be expected to follow such preaching?

Today, the preacher’s “counsel” might not sound like counsel at all. It is more likely to take the form of compliance—toleration. To refuse to stand against worldliness becomes, in itself, a form of worldliness. For the one charged to counsel souls away from the world, ignoring worldliness is to counsel people to trespass against the Lord.

• It is extreme. - at one time it would have been labeled “the lunatic fringe” of Fundamentalism.
• It is unpopular.
• It is opposed to human reason.

But to refuse it is the error of Balaam for reward.

#CounselOfBalaam #BeSeparate #StandAgainstWorldliness #TruthOverToleration #ComeOutFromAmongThem

The Counsel of Balaam: Silence Becomes Counsel to Compromise

⚠️ Are we seeing the counsel of Balaam in today’s churches? Numbers 31:16 warns us how compromise led Israel into sin and judgment. Many Christians wonder: Is toleration of worldliness just as dangerous as open sin?

👉 What do you think—should preachers today speak boldly against compromise, even when it’s unpopular? Share your thoughts in the comments!

📲 Hungry for more solid, biblical teaching? Visit marvinmckenzie.org for Bible studies, videos, and resources rooted in the King James Bible.

👉 Join our community in studying God’s Word and strengthening your faith.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6800 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Numbers 31:16 (KJV) The Counsel of Balaam

Numbers 29:39 (KJV) Besides…

Numbers 29:39 (KJV)

These things ye shall do unto the LORD in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.

Notice the word beside.

Our text describes the series of feasts among the Jews:

• The Feast of Trumpets
• The Day of Atonement
• The Feast of Tabernacles

These were holy days. We’ve shortened that term today into “holidays.”

While there were prescribed days of rest—times when no servile work was to be done (that is, work performed out of obligation, debt, or gratitude)—what stands out to me is the sheer burden of work involved in these feasts.

Numbers 29:6 (KJV)
Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.

During the feasts they had to keep up with:

• The monthly sacrifice,
• The daily sacrifice,
• And everything else in addition.

It reminds me of coming back from vacation. I keep up an active life, and it’s not as though the work stops while I’m away. It waits. No—it piles up—until I return. When I step back into my office, I must catch up on everything left undone besides what normally belongs to that day.

That is why the word rest, and the related word peace, are so important to New Testament faith. Christ has already done all the work needed for our relationship with God. There is nothing left for us to do but rest peacefully in Him.

Yes, in this world we will have tribulation, and in the harvest fields now ripening there is work for us to do. But as far as our standing with God is concerned, the work is finished. Our place is to trust Him.

John 14:27 (KJV)
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

#RestInChrist #PeaceThroughJesus #FinishedWorkOfChrist #FromLaborToRest #HolyDaysToHolyPeace

Besides… The Work Is Done

Are you carrying the weight of life’s “besides” — all the things that never stop piling up? The Old Testament feasts remind us how endless the work was. But Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). He finished the work of salvation — all that’s left is to rest in Him. ✝️

💬 Question for you: What do you think it really means to rest in Christ instead of striving? Share your thoughts in the comments below — your answer might encourage someone else today!

📲 Hungry for more solid, biblical teaching? Visit marvinmckenzie.org for Bible studies, videos, and resources rooted in the King James Bible.

👉 Join our community in studying God’s Word and strengthening your faith.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6800 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Numbers 29:39 (KJV) Besides… 

Numbers 21:8 (KJV) Look and Live

Numbers 21:8 (KJV)

And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

I’ve been thinking about this serpent the last few days.

• Moses made it at the command of God.
• It was God’s design. 
• It fulfilled God’s purpose.

Moses made it in response to the sin of the people. 

Their sin had brought consequences. People were dying. Then this amazing miracle! Whosoever looked on this brazen serpent lived. It makes little sense to the logical mind, but obedience to this simple instruction changed their lives.

But we know that later the people wanted to turn it into an idol. A thing given by God, used miraculously of the Lord, was twisted by men to become a curse.

I think people do the same thing today with other things of God. Their sin has corrupted what God gave for good. 

The church is one example.

The church is given by command of God. In and of itself, it’s really nothing. There are hundreds of organizations where people gather. But in the Lord’s church, there are answers to our greatest questions, health for our soul, and encouragement for our future. Obedience to the simple instruction of unity in a local church is life-changing. It was given in response to the sin condition. We know that we who are saved still wrestle with sin, and our place in the church offers us strength against that struggle. But many have twisted, perverted, and changed the church into an idol, an error, in many cases even into an evil.

The answer is not to destroy the local church, nor to quit it. The answer is to return to the roots—to why it exists and for Whom it exists.

#LookAndLive #GodsDesignNotIdols #ObedienceBringsLife #TheChurchChristBuilt #ReturnToTheRoots

Look and Live: The Serpent, the Cross, and the Church

⚔️ The fiery serpent lifted in the wilderness was God’s answer for sin’s deadly sting. Those who looked lived. That same truth still points us to Christ and reminds us of the value of His church today.

📖 Too often, what God gives for good is twisted into an idol. The solution isn’t to abandon the Lord’s church—it’s to return to the roots: why it exists and for Whom it exists.

💬 Question for you: Have you ever seen God’s design for the church misused, and how did it impact your walk with Him? Share your thoughts in the comments below—I’d love to hear your perspective.

📲 Hungry for more solid, biblical teaching? Visit marvinmckenzie.org for Bible studies, videos, and resources rooted in the King James Bible.

👉 Join our community in studying God’s Word and strengthening your faith.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6800 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Numbers 21:8 (KJV) Look and Live