55 “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.
This chapter is basically Cliff's notes for Israel's journey in the desert another chapter that makes me ask why did God put it in there for us? Its not clear to me.
This is the only verse that really struck me. While I'm not sure it applies to us directly as I don't believe we have the same call to drive inhabitants out of our land. I do see a lesson in the impact of influences on culture and the negative results it will drive.
Our culture was formed by a group of believers. Over time we have driven a wedge between ourselves from our beliefs in the name of freedom of religion. We are getting to the fat part of the wedge now, we are a nation divided, maybe the DSA instead of the USA at times. We have barbs in our eyes and it seems we have trouble in the land where we live. Will we recover or will God or will we continue to separate ourselves from God and ultimately destroy ourselves. I guess time will tell, but for our part we can seek to follow Jesus by loving God and loving others as he commanded. Loving others includes sharing the truth we have in Jesus and not just rolling over to the sinful ways of this world.
knut
I completely agree. I'm fascinated watching the Presidential races right now. It seems the candidates that are doing well, are the ones that are MORE about dividing us. The more the talk is around hate, division, blowing somebody up....the more popular they become. Its crazy. I'm completely with you.
ReplyDeleteAs we've been reading thru this, it keep amazing me how many times the Israelites strayed. But, there it is. Written in black ink for us all to see. One of the stops that this chapter mentions is the "Desert of Sin". UUUMMMMM HHHEEELLLLLOOOOO! How can anyone be faithful and loyal to God in the Desert of Sin? I mean, come on!
tp