EXODUS 32:17-18: And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to
Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But [Moses] said: “it is not the voice of those who shout
in victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry out in defeat, but the voice of those who sing that I
hear.”
Lost in the jungle, a man sought desperately to find his way to safety. His strength was ebbing fast.
Suddenly he heard what he thought was a bell tolling in the distance. Surely civilization must be
nearby.
Valiantly he struggled on, but never seemed to draw closer to the sound. Finally he fell to the ground
exhausted, never to rise again. The uncanny call of the South American bellbird. Which sounds like a
reverberating “toll,” had struck again. Instead of offering the weary traveler promised safety, it lured
him to his death
Joshua made a similar mistake. When he heard the sounds of shouting, his military mind immediately
assumed he was hearing the sounds of battle. But Moses, experienced in the ways of human nature,
realized it was something even more sinister.
What Joshua mistook for the sounds of potential physical danger, Moses recognized as the sure
sounds of serious moral danger. Instead of war, it was the noise of debauchery and immorality.
Satan is a skilled noisemaker, and he loves to disguise the reality of sin with deceitful noise. He
cloaks his wicked ways with words that sound lofty and noble. He hides his lies and deceit beneath
raucous laughter, emotional appeals or apparent sincerity. The consequences, however, are spiritual
disaster or even death.
Don’t be fooled by the noise. Always take what you hear back to the Word of God. If it’s not
consistent with the Bible take no heed to it no matter how good it sounds.
CHECK OUT THE WORDS YOU HEAR BY THE WORD YOU TRUST.