28/08/2025
*TODAY'S MEDITATION.*
*DON'T ALLOW THAT SMALL EVIL SEED OPPORTUNITY TO GROW*
Good morning to you and your beautiful family. I hope this edifies you today.
*ANCHOR SCRIPTURE*
*NUMBERS 33*
51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.
54 And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.
55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
56 Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.
*DETAILS*
In the above scripture, God told the children of Israel to ensure they drive away all inhabitants living in the land of Canaan because there would be negative consequences if they failed to do so.
Verse 55 gives us the clue on this.
55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
Notice verse 56 also talks about God's judgement also coming on them for failing to drive away all inhabitants of the land.
*What's the connection here* ?
What we see is that by failing to drive away all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, they will be influenced by those ungodly people to live contrary to God's commandments and this will bring God's judgement upon the people.
Unfortunately, the children of Israel failed to do this important instruction and they opened the door for the enemy to get them to come under God's judgement. Something they would suffer for in a very terrible way.
Looking through their history we see how on several occasions they came into rebellion against God and served the god's of their neighbors.
Obeying that singular instruction God gave them would have spared them lots of sorrows.
They got satisfied with their conquest and decided to put burdens of taxation on the inhabitants of the land instead of driving them totally away in obedience to God.
*SCRIPTURES THAT SHOWED THEY DIDN'T OBEY👇👇👇👇*
*Jos 17:13* Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but did not utterly drive them out.
*Judges 1* :
19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.
27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.
29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.
31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:
32 But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.
33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them.
34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:
35 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.
36 And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.
*THEY HAD EXCUSES*
Because of one reason or the other, the children of Israel failed to do as God instructed them.
In some cases they simply wanted to collect tribute or taxes from those they didn't drive away.
In other cases, they didn't trust God enough to help them drive away the Canaanites as they considered that they were too strong for them.
Whatever the case, they had acted in disobedience and this would be a very bad influence on the Israelites soon.
*THE CONSEQUENCES* .
Judges 2
1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. note
2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?
3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
4 And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
5 And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD. note
6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.
7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. note
8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.
13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
What God said would happen began immediately. They came under God's judgement.
*LET'S BRING IT TO OURSELVES.*
Many times, God instructs us to give up certain things or to begin to commit to do certain things.
If we don't choose to obey Him in those little things, it can snowball into our being disobedient in a more embarrassing way.
We need to get rid of that lust, greed, mammon, seduction, rebellion, prayerlessness, gluttony, etc. trying to sew itself as a seed in our hearts.
It's easier to deal with these things when they are just seeds than when they have been allowed to grow into becoming a strong hold.
*PRAYER* .
Father whatever needs to be removed from my life so I won't compromise on my walk with you, help me identify them and grant me the grace to commit to remove them so I can remain always in alignment with your will and purposes for my life in Jesus name amen.
My highest regards to you and your beautiful family
