Numbers 15: Blasphemy

"But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or foreign resident, blasphemes the Lord.  That person is to be cut off from his people."

Numbers 15:30

Most sin happens unintentionally.  Think about traffic collisions - we call them "accidents" because it's extremely rare that they happen on purpose.  However, when someone does intentionally use his/her vehicle as a weapon against another, terms like "road rage" and "vehicular manslaughter" arise.  Why do we call it something different?  Because, as human beings, motives mean everything to us.

If a military wife receives notice that her husband has been killed in action, gets remarried two years later, and then finds out a year afterwards that her first husband was actually just a prisoner of war, has she done something wrong?  The first half of Numbers 15 would lead us to say that, yes, she had in fact done something wrong, but she should not be punished because she did not know at the time.  Instead, she should make restitution for her acts and repent.

The verse quoted above comes after those ideas about repentance.  If the same woman were to falsify a document and pretend that she had received notice of her husband's death in order to intentionally use the opportunity to be adulterous, then she has blasphemed the Lord.  Her guilt will remain on her, according to verse 31.

Question of the Day:

We are all guilty of intentional sins, however small.  We are all guilty of blasphemy, the unforgivable sin.  How do we ask forgiveness for such sins?  How do we look God in the face and not burn with our shame every time we call on the name of His holy and perfect Son?

Prayer of the Day:

I know that I am unworthy of coming before You, for I am a blasphemous man who has knowingly sinned in Your presence on a multitude of occasions.  In shame, I stand before You, begging that You will take me back into Your care.  Teach me.  Rebuke me.  Treat me like a child once more, in need of Your direction and guidance every moment of every day, and in need of discipline for my intentional disobedience.  Amen.