Discover His heart: His instructions will provide a blessed future for us
I really don’t like going to the doctor, but sometimes I just have to do it. A while back a doctor diagnosed me with pharyngitis, sinusitis and some other itis and then ordered a prescription of antibiotic to kill all the infection. His most important instruction was that I will be certain to take all the medicine even when I started feeling better because we want to kill all the infection or it could return. And really, when those with experience and authority give instructions to us, it’s wise to follow them. Sadly, the Israelites just didn’t see it that way.
@ Numbers 33
The Israelites had finally finished their 40-year trek in the desert and sat poised to enter Canaan, God’s Promised Land. Through Moses, God gave a prescription of sorts to the Israelites for them to enjoy a healthy and productive life in Canaan. “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy.” (51-53) The instructions seem clear enough, take all the medicine, drive out all the people and destroy all their idols.
Like my doctor explained to me, God let the Israelites know what would happen should they fail to drive out all the people, “But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.” (55-56) And as we know, that is precisely what happened to Israel.
Because they failed to drive out all the Canaanites and destroy all the idols, the Israelites’ everyday lives were slowly infiltrated by them, and this brought about their downfall. Eventually, the Assyrians and Babylonians swept in and drove them out of their land. What part of all do we not understand?
I’m happy to report that I have taken all my medicine so that not even a little trace of infection is left to grow and infect my body again. What we don’t destroy could destroy us. And so it is with sin. How foolish it is to preserve something that we know to be sin simply because it seems so harmless, because it is too beautiful to let go of or because it makes us feel good. There’s no such thing as a little bit of pornography, a little bit of stealing or a little bit of lying because eventually it will grow, spread and easily affect our entire lives.
The lesson we learn from the Israelites today is to follow all of God’s instructions, and then we can be assured that we will live happily and healthily in the land He has given us.
Moving Forward: Lesson learned! Taking all my medicine and following all of God’s instructions.
Tomorrow @ 2 Chronicles 16-20
Phyllis Benigas 