Completely Destroying Idols and Sins
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 7:1-7 (NASB)
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. 3 Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. 5 But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
SUMMARY
Moses’ sermon continues and tells the Israelites what they need to do when God hands these 7 powerful nations in Canaan over to them to conquer. God instructs them to utterly destroy everything in it and not to be lenient and merciful. He tells them not to intermarry with any of them, and to completely get rid of their idols and altars. Moses warns God won’t tolerate His people turning away from Him, and His anger will burn against them if they disobey and let the sinful pagans taint them. He reminds the Israelites that they are holy people, who belong to the Lord and that He chose these small numbers of Israelites to be His own special treasure among the numerous people on this earth.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
As His chosen people, God gives us clear instructions and guidance so we can live a holy life that is pleasing in His sight. We were to never compromise with the sinful world, and set ourselves apart from anything that makes us sin and pulls away from the Lord. Many of us, truth be told, simply do not want to completely “destroy” the sins which keep us from God’s Promised Land of blessing and peace - we want to weaken them, and have some control over them, but we do not want to utterly destroy them. But that’s not what God wants from us. We are set apart unto God by His choosing and to live as His chosen people. So we are especially to get rid of everything, even the tiniest seeds of ungodliness, which could be the source of sins in the future.
The Lord set His love on us and it is the great motivation for obedience - knowing and walking in the love of God. When we really believe God loves us, and live with that belief as a conscious fact, we find it so much easier to obey – and to utterly destroy anything that would damage that relationship of love. We need to remain pure and uphold holiness as God commands us to do.
APPLICATION
This passage makes me reflect on my own struggle as a Christian in this sinful world. Do I have anything in my life that is keeping me from being in perfect and pure communion with the Lord? Am I compromising what is godly and holy with the ungodly things so that I can fit into this society and surroundings? The world is getting darker and darker and it seems like soon our faith will be tested and following Jesus would be harder. God reminds me today to really re-examine my heart and continue to pray and strive to stay holy by completely getting rid of all the “idols” in my life. I thought I laid down and purged many idols in my life, but God reveals to me today through this Scripture passage to keep at it, as I still have a lot of idols in my life that I am not letting go of. I miserably fail everyday, but His grace and mercy gives me hope and brings me back up when I’m disappointed at myself or doubt if I can continue to fight this spiritual battle. God chose us and set us apart from this world, and how grateful am I that He chose an undeserving sinner like me to be His own. Knowing this truth and walking in the love of God, I will wholeheartedly obey Him and joyfully follow Him with unwavering faith and gratefulness.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father God, thank You for reminding us to completely destroy and get rid of everything that hinders our walk with You and living as holy people of Christ. Please help me to fix my eyes upon Your promises and not be shaken and worried by the matters of this fallen world. I desire to be pure and holy in Your presence and to have this beautiful communion with you every day. Thank You, Lord, for also reminding me to continue to pray for our children and the entire next generation so that they don’t compromise and “intermarry” with the darkness. Help us to always remember Your commandments to love You with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our might, and keep the commandments on our heart and teach them diligently to our children (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). So I pray that You would help us to get rid of all the impure and ungodly desires and thoughts from our lives and abide in Your glorious and loving presence as Your chosen children. May You, God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in You, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). We thank you and love You. In Jesus’ powerful name I pray, Amen.
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