Numbers 33:50-56 - On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from
Jericho the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the
Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land
before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish
all their high places. Take possession of the
land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a
larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to
your ancestral tribes. " 'But if you do not
drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become
barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will
give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you
what I plan to do to them.' "
God had Moses write down a word map…of all the places God had taken them
to over the last 40 years. It was in one sense a physical map…a simple listing
of the places they traveled. But in a
greater sense it was a spiritual map….a journal of all that God had brought
them through. And now as they stood on the banks of the promised land…and
waited for God to give the signal to move into the vast goodness it would
provide…God gave them one last directive….the inhabitants already in it would
have to be destroyed…all the people…all their idols…and all the high places
where they worshiped.
An ominous warning was given to them at the same time….for if they
failed to follow this last directive of God…the evil that existed in this land
would trick its way into their lives and destroy them. The barbs that remained would blind them to
why worship of other Gods was wrong….and thorns would grow from the seeds that
would eventually be placed on Jesus’ head as he gave his life to conquer sin
once and for all.
We all got the same directive from God you know…when we decided to ask
him into our hearts. He asked us to
destroy anything evil that existed there before he came to abide with us.
Colossians 3:5-10 says…. “Put to death, therefore, whatever
belongs to your earthly nature: carnal immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you
once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new
self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image
of its Creator.
They were hesitant to follow God’s orders…just as we now try to justify
sin in our lives. But if I read both these groups of verses right…we who make
the decision to keep any sin in our lives will be judged…and God will allow us
to be destroyed. The sins will become
barbs in our eyes that will blind us to the wrong of what we choose to do….they
will become thorns in our very lives that will eventually cause us to fall from
the leadership of God and his holy spirit in our life….and destroy the good
relationship we had when he first called us to him.
And as more and more of us succumb to Satan’s tricks…and allow sin to
fester into evil…more horrible tragedies will come to pass. God help this great
nation I call home….this great promised land of opportunity and
freedom…to wake up and
examine our lives for sin hidden deep within our souls….and may God find a way
to convict us all to destroy the carnal immorality, impurity, lust, evil
desires and greed…that has become a blinding barb in our eyes. God help us all to examine our lives for anger,
rage, malice, slander, filthy language from our lips, and lies…for they too
will cause us to weaken our faith in the one God that will come back to take us
all away from this evil world one day. May God bring back prayer….and let us
call out to him for a revival…that will sweep the nation and cleanse the barbs
of Satan right out of the eyes of those who justify any sin in their life.
Father...I thank you for the reminder that I am never completely rid of
sin in my life. Take my heart and do a
good cleaning today….and bring to my mind any seed of thorns that Satan has
planted there to ruin and weaken my relationship with you. Help me to destroy every last sin in my life….from
the simplest lie I have told…to the bitterness and anger I let seep into my
heart. Give me a new strength to stay
pure and constantly call out to you in prayer to give me wisdom and knowledge…..grace
and patience with the evil around me. I call out to you today to send a great
revival to this land I live…and convict us all of our sins against you…so we
can all turn to you in prayer…and see you come and heal the wounds evil has
placed upon it. Amen.
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