Examples for us

“Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” 1 Corinthians 10:6
The Old Testament is indeed relevant to us today. It’s not just a collection of stories about a nation that God chose, and how He led them to a land of their own, and gave them His laws. Rather, the Old Testament is the story of God and how He deals with mankind, with Israel as an example.
Four examples are given of evil attitudes that developed within Israel that God judged. Firstly: idolatry (1 Cor. 10:7) with the incident of the golden calf (Ex. 32). Secondly: sexual immorality (1 Cor. 10:8) with the incident of the Moabite women who were sent to seduce Israel because of Balaam’s advice to Balak (Num. 25). Thirdly: testing the Lord (1 Cor. 10:9) with the particular example begin given of Num. 21:4-9 where God sent snakes among the people. Fourthly: grumbling (1 Cor. 10:10), which the Israelites did on many occasions. It is likely that Num. 11 is what Paul is referring to here (see Num. 11:33), the incident where God sent quail but the people still grumbled about the food He was miraculously providing for them. These last two cases both concerned food. The evil attitude was one of ingratitude towards God, and lusting for the things of Egypt (Num. 11:4-6).
Here we can learn four things that should not be part of our lives: Idolatry, of any sort. (Note that when Aaron made the golden calf, he said to Israel, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” (Ex. 32:4). They weren’t trying to worship some other god, but their worship in creating the idol was misdirected.) Sexual immorality. Testing God – the word here implies doubt that He is able to perform. Grumbling – being dissatisfied and unappreciative of all that God has given us by His grace.