Sin makes us self-centered. Not only does that impact our relationship with God, but with others as well. God makes the latter ever so important in Numbers 5:6-7 when He equates wronging another “in any way” with unfaithfulness to Himself, and calls it sin for which He requires confession and restitution.
Modern culture normalizes and justifies self-centeredness so that it is hard for us to recognize it as wrong. This is just one way we become contaminated by living in this sin-cursed world, and why we need to be in God’s word daily – not simply reading it, but reflecting on what we read and how it applies to us. So please take the opportunity this reminder affords us to consider your relations with others. What do they reveal about your relationship with God?
Our culture and our enemy will also cause us to consider God unjust in seeming to promote a male-dominated culture that is unfair to women by offering a test for an unfaithful wife and not one for an unfaithful husband. I addressed that in last year’s post; you can click on the link in the underlined text here to go to that post and so gain a better understanding of why this was so. Because if you are offended by this it is due to lack of understanding, and that will result in missing the important point of this provision and causing you to have the mind of sinful man rather than the mind of Christ. Don’t play into Satan’s hands like that!
The principle behind the test for the unfaithful wife is that God does not want the weak suffering unjustly at the hands of the strong. What a good God.
An equally important truth in this provision is that God reveals the hidden truth if we ask Him. The “bitter water that brings a curse” would produce the outcome God directed. The ceremony offered here was a petition to God to reveal hidden truth. Please don’t miss this reminder. Questions about others can hinder our peace and joy; ask God to reveal the hidden truth, and trust Him to do so.