“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.” (Numbers 33:51-53 NIV)
God asks the Israelite to be deliberate and diligent as they take hold of Canaan. The land is occupied, but promised. He implores His people to systematically attack and eliminate the mindsets and practices that would potentially distract and destroy the people’s relationship with the living God. Carved images, idols and high places all posed a threat to the authentic and intimate divine friendship He was offering His people.
I wish I could be more systematic in identifying and extracting the mindsets and practices that are harmful in my own walk with the Lord. The Israelites had a physical land with known borders – they were tasked to possess it piece by piece. We have a much more elusive heart to subdue; it’s not as straightforward as cities and small kingdoms in need of overturning. We can’t simply move from one border towards another, ousting the enemy and destroying his holdings.
Instead we regularly submit to the searchlight of the Holy Spirit. We ask Him to illuminate the high places; the parts of our heart that refuse to bow to a Sovereign God. We root out idols and take them to the trash. We repossess the land with right practices: true worship, godly thinking and right living. And we refuse to rest or settle before we’ve reached complete occupation.
So many believers reach a certain point in their sanctification and then camp out. It becomes too much work to keep going; too costly, too tired. And so they stay there, at that place of complacency for ten or twenty or more years. The pagan practices of their neighbors sneak in slowly and they are unbothered. Apathy has replaced passion. Comfort has squeezed out conviction.
The Lord warns the Israelites (and us) of the consequence for failure to finish the task of total occupation. It’s not pretty. Coexisting turns the Promised Land into something else altogether.
“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.” (Numbers 33:55-56 NIV)
If Israel didn’t oust the inhabitants and finish their occupation, they’d be infected by false religion and ultimately share the fate of their enemy. That’s quite a warning. We cannot settle with sin still in our hearts. We must keep cooperating with the Spirit’s conviction. Growing complacent will cost far more in the long run.
Lord, help us refuse apathy in regards to sanctification. Keep us on task: steadily identifying and eliminating sinful practices in our territory. We see the potential problems of settling too soon. Give us courage and stamina to possess all of our heart on behalf of Your Kingdom. Amen.