The other day I had to run to the store for some things and as I got all the way to the entrance, I realized I didn’t have my required face-mask. Oh man! In my life there is not much that sticks in my crawl more than doubling back. The idea of immediately covering ground I just covered to get something just really irks me. So, I walked all the way back to the car in the 107 degree dry sauna heat that is August in Texas and grabbed my mask. Stupid corona virus.
In life, doing things over costs you time. And time is valuable. The idea of either poor planning, a mistake, or just life causing you to back up and repeat what you’ve already done, can be a real headache. Life happens. But what if you were the sole reason the 'do-over' was caused? What if you and you alone were the cause of all your headaches of having to go back and handle the same things over and over? It may sound silly that we would cause ourselves such hassles in life, but we do. Read on.
In 2 Samuel chapter 8 today we see David catching his full stride as king. The Lord has fully established him, Saul and his relatives are all gone thereby removing any other claims on the throne, and the ark of God is nearby in Jerusalem. David is no longer running but ruling. And with a heart after God’s, he rules with compassion, mercy, grace, and truth. But as David surveys Israel’s immediate needs, he realizes he must get busy at doing some things over again. He needs to pause, go back and redo some stuff. This time, to the full completion that was originally asked by God.
Let’s take a field trip all the way back to Genesis 15. Here we find God making a covenant with Abram. (This is before God changes his name to Abraham in chapter 17) God causes Abram to fall into a deep sleep and God shows up on the scene to make a powerful covenant with him.
“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” Gen 15:18-21
It is here we see the first mention of the Promised land. God promised this very precise portion of land to Abram and his descendants. God made this very land for His chosen people to live in. Did I mention it was a promise directly from God? Clear as a bell, right? OK, let’s flash forward a few hundred years as Moses is leading the Israelites to this very place. After 400 years in Egyptian slavery God is going to allow them to claim the very land He promised to Abram. Moses leads them to the very threshold of the land, but they refuse to go in and claim the land. As a result of their lack of faith, God has Moses lead them in a pointless parade around the desert for the next 40 years. Why would they not go in? Because of the very people groups that God mentioned to Abram. You see, the promised land had a lot of very mean, very angry (and big) people that would not simply roll over and give up their homes. The Israelites were afraid of fighting them, and without them trusting in God to do the fighting, they should have been.
You see, God had given them very clear instructions on how to claim the Promised Land. Let’s take another field trip all the way back to Deuteronomy.
“When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.”
“However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 20:10-18
So God’s plan is clear for His people. All of this land belongs to you just as I promised it to Abraham. I will, in my power, defeat all of your enemies within that land. All you must do is have great faith, go into the land and fight for it. But as you do, you must remove all the evil God-rejecting peoples that live there because if you don’t, they will cause you and your descendants to stumble for centuries. They will entice you with their false gods, lead you to their idols, and tempt you in their sinful worship practices. Sounds pretty simple right? But guess what. Of all 12 Israelite tribes that were given land within the Promised Land…not one did as the Lord commanded. Not one single tribe removed the enemies from the land. And as a result, David is still battling these same people groups. David is fighting battles that should have been completed hundreds of years before.
Friends, we do the exact same thing in our lives. God gives us crystal clear instructions on what is good for us in this life and what will cause us great harm. If we walk in the good, we cause ourselves minimal headaches. But when we walk in sin, we are walking backwards, away from the peace of God. Just as with the Promised land, God commands us to banish the enemy of sin forever. To forever clear our land of the personal enemy of sin. We are to leave not even one single sin breathing. Because if you embrace even one single sin in your life, it will tempt you, entice you and lead you in directions that will greatly harm your future.
Are you battling the same sinful battles over and over today? Do you find yourself falling into the same sin every day, only to regret it as soon as you do it? This is a reckless cycle that will having you taking two steps back for everyone one step forward. And God knows this all too well. You see, God knows how easily tempted we are. And that is why He tells us to eradicate all sin in our lives. All of it. Whatever is tempting you today, ask God to completely remove it from you life. In the power of God, you can fight it until it is gone. In the strength of God, you can battle it into extinction. Through the might of God, He will allow you to vanquish and exterminate that which will cause you to stumble. But the key here is dependence on God. And to ask for God’s help on eradicating sin, means you have to include Him. Admit and confess exactly what you are fighting and He will show up and conquer your enemy.
Friends, don’t fight the same battle today over and over. Life can never move forward if your standing still, battling the same sin again and again. Allow God to vanquish the foe that stands in your way today. Yes, there will always be new foes in your future, but just as God conquered the former, He will conquer the next.
Be blessed in your pursuit of a clean, pure heart.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
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