The combined forces of the seven nations occupying the promised land seemed like a huge obstacle. However, God told the Israelites something important about entering the land. He promised to bring them into the land and clear the way for them.
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you (Deuteronomy 7:1).
When I started pastoring a church, I remember my boss calling me into the office. He told me I was too young to be a preacher and needed more experience. But God called me, and I followed.
The first God-sized situation I faced was telling a truck driver’s family that he had died in a terrible traffic accident outside of Detroit. I accompanied the company’s vice president to the shoe factory to break the news to his wife, then to a farm to inform his sons, and finally to his mother’s house to share the news with her.
This task was way beyond my skill level, but with God’s power, it was possible. When God gives us an assignment, He gives us the power to accomplish it.
Remove Potential Stumbling Blocks
When we start studying the prophets, we’ll find that one major obstacle for the Israelites in faithfully serving God was their blending of Canaanite idolatry with the worship of Yahweh.
Had they only followed this directive, they would have been spared tremendous pain.
And when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.
Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods.
Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
But this is how you must deal with them: break down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn their idols with fire (Deuteronomy 7:2-5).
In today’s YouTube video, I asked Bruce Kirby to name the idols of modern culture. He quickly identified them as power, prestige, and money. He believes power is the most seductive, and I tend to agree that he is possibly right.
The Israelites often mixed their worship of the one true God with the gods of other lands. Similarly, we might be tempted to combine our worship of Jesus with a desire for power, prestige, and money.
Almost daily, there’s news about a religious figure who has compromised their faith by blending Christianity with these modern-day idols.
Moses gave the Israelites strict instructions to remove any stumbling blocks from their walk with the Lord. We need to examine our own lives and identify what might be leading us away from fully following Jesus.
While we can’t speak for society, we can take responsibility for ourselves and ensure these obstacles are not part of our lives.
Holy to the Lord
Something holy is an object or person set apart for God’s use. God called the Israelites to be set apart for Him.
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6).
When Rudy Ross was in school, one of his friends was Catholic. Rudy would smile and joke with his friend, saying, “We are God’s chosen people.”
Rudy quickly points out that both Jews and Christians are called by God to reflect His character to the world. We should live differently from the rest of the world.
That’s why we can’t mix our faith in Jesus with the idols around us. When we do, we lose what makes us unique.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 