Torah - Caution

Torah - Caution

"And the LORD said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD: 'Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn'"' 

And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, 'Surely you are a husband of blood to me!' So He let him go. Then she said, 'You are a husband of blood!'—because of the circumcision." Exodus 4:21-26 

We must all recognize as individuals that just because God may have used you to do a great work in the past or intended to use you in the future, that doesn't mean that you are essential to God's work. God will not overlook sin due to anyone's supposed merits. The same God that called you will punish you if necessary. Be careful not to relay on a past experience with God and make sure you are in a right relationship with God today. Also, it is very common for people to overlook the character flaws of some beloved person - especially if the person is a well known spiritual leader - and act as if their sins are of little importance in light of that person's contributions to good things in the past, present, or the ability to be helpful in the future. But no one is more important than God and position does not lessen anyone's responsibility to follow God's requirements. 

No matter how high someone's position was or is, if there is wrong we should not be silent and act as if that person's sin is above correction. When someone does wrong like Zipporah we need to lovingly intervene. And that includes casting the "foreskin" of responsibility where it belongs by showing the person the cause of the problem and taking actions to correct it rather than just thinking about it. Remember it is not love to do nothing. Avoiding confronting someone with a problem because you are afraid of rejection would be like a doctor withholding the cause of someone's illness out of fear of being considered rude when that very information could give that person a new life. "'When I say to the wicked, "O wicked man, you shall surely die!" and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.'" Ezekiel 33:8 

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