SCRIPTURE: Numbers 16
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
“After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. [John 13:21,26]
Can you feel the sense of betrayal?
Here we have fellow leaders, Levites who shared in the calling and blessing of the Lord’s work, opposing Moses and Aaron.
And listen to Dathan and Abiram, they describe their bondage in Egypt as a land flowing with milk and honey.
Do they honestly think they were better off without God, without His help?
This whole passage oozes with grumbling and negativity, and if it was not for Moses’ mediation, God would have given up on the whole nation.

I am reminded of the betrayal that Jesus, the supreme mediator, must have felt when He endured Judas’ betrayal.
The very one that had shared in fellowship with Jesus, is now turning against Him.
Did Judas honestly think that he would be better off without Jesus?
We see how his life also ends in despair and death [Matthew 27:5].

My heart goes out to one-time Christian leaders who turn against the Lord and His way.
I don’t pretend to know the struggle they went through, which led to their falling away, but do they honestly think they are better off without Him?
How many of them end their lives in despair and death.
The fact is, without God this world and this life lead to despair and death.
The plague in our story, as well as the ground opening up under the family of Korah, and the fire from the Lord killing the other Levites – all these sad, horrible deaths only reveal where life without God eventually leads.
The same with Judas’ suicide.

The Lord does so much for us.
He has suffered and died to set us free, to restore us to God.
He offers us daily bread, and longs to share it in fellowship with us.
He uses life’s circumstances to show us that He is real, to warn us about turning away from Him.
He gives us plenty of examples of people who live without God, against God, and we see the outcome of their lives.
Don’t betray the Lord, it’s really not worth it.
The devil may convince you that life apart from Him is milk and honey – but its sour milk and poison honey.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” [Revelation 3:20]

PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for showing me what life is like without You. I hear You knocking, I open my heart to You. Come eat with me.