But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them (Numbers 33:55-56).

As irritating as the Canaanites would be to the Israelites, the most awful result would be to have the LORD against them. God was intent on judging the Canaanites. If Israel did not wipe them out as the LORD commanded, then He would judge the Israelites. 

Sometimes, when we think about why we obey God, we think about social benefits (e.g. people will get along better with each other) or the physical benefits (e.g. better hygiene, healthy, etc.) or the emotional benefits (e.g. freedom from anxiety and fears); however, these should not be the primary reason for obedience. We ought to obey because God, our Creator and Redeemer, commands it.

When we focus on secondary reasons for obedience, those reasons may at some point become minimized, then we forget the primary reason and give ourselves permission to disobey God. 

So parents, when you teach your child to not lie, let your focus not be on the social consequences of lying but rather on the command of God, who calls us to be holy. Teach morality on the firm ground of God's holy standard rather than the shifting ground of social mores or expedience. Do teach temporal consequences but focus on God's command. Otherwise, your children may figure out that the temporal benefits to ignoring the commands of God outweigh the temporal consequences, all the while forgetting the spiritual and eternal consequences of doing so. Psalm 73 is a great reflection on this by Asaph, Israel's chief musician. 

As I was reading the stages in the journey of the Israelites this monrning, I was reminded of mine up to now since the Lord brought me out of darkness.  I had many plans for my own good and faced several dead ends, purplexed on the reasons for them as if the plan that was motivated by my selfish desire had been better than the Lord's.  I am where I am now because of His mercy and "according to the plan of Him who works out everything.."  I do not know where the next stage of my journey on earth will be but I am sure of where it ultimately ends!  Praise the Lord!

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.’” (Numbers 33:55-56)

Do you notice something interesting here? After God instructed Israel to drive out Canaanites, he warned them that (1) they would become "pricks in your eyes", (2) they would be "as thorns in your sides", and (3) they will trouble you in the land in which you live." But after all this, He also said, "And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you." 

The first three items are serious in themselves, but the last item makes the first three pale in comparison. It is one thing to have human beings against you, but quite another matter to have the LORD against you. And if He planned to treat Israel as He planned to treat the Canaanites, this meant certain doom. 

Friends, I have shared on this before, but it bears repeating. Israel's greatest asset was God. Israel's greatest liability was God. Their power over Egypt and the nations with whom they would  later contend did not come from the strength of their numbers, nor their military prowess, nor their strategies. It was simply from God's grace, by which they were chosen over other nations to reflect His glory to the world. 

This principle is carried over into the New Testament, where Jesus taught, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (Matthew 6:33). Paul also taught:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).

Friends, someone famously said, "Don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good." But this is exactly opposite what the Bible teaches. If you want to be any good on this earth, you must be heavenly-minded, for everything short of this is vanity, according to the wisest man that ever lived. 

We are busy with our lives, yet everything we are busy with will soon pass away. Jesus told the crowds that followed Him, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life" (John 6:27). Elsewhere, He taught,

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).

As it is also written, "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). There is nothing worse than to have God against you. On the other hand, as Paul declares, "If God is for us, who can be against us?!" (Romans 8:31). 

Therefore, friends, I encourage us all to step back and do a little self-examination. In my spirit, I feel as if there are many that have fallen off the wagon with respect to their daily meditation on God's Word. And there are others, who have no discipline in God's Word, who are chasing after "spiritual" highs from one emotionally-charged worship service after another. These have to be 24/7, like a drug addiction, for otherwise these seekers may crash and crash hard, although this may be for their good. 

But let this be an encouragement. The end is more important than the beginning, and what you do now is more pertinent than what you did yesterday. Decide today that you will set aside some of those pressing matters that are passing away with this world and refocus on the things that truly matter and which will endure into eternity. Stop working for food that spoils but for the food that endures to eternal life. As Jesus said,

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away (Luke 21:33).

Again, we read in Isaiah 55:10-11,

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Again, we read about the Word of God:

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.(Hebrews 4:12-13).

God will judge everyone on the basis of His Word. And, therefore, if we want to truly please God, we must learn to live in keeping with His Word:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16).

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:!5).

Therefore, dear friends, if you have left off reading, pick up the Bible and begin reading again. If you are following this annual reading plan, I would encourage you not to go back to where you left off and try to catch up all at once, but begin reading from the current day's reading. Get back on your disciplined schedule. When you find the extra time to catch up, then you can use that time to begin catching up on the passages you missed. But whatever you do, get back on schedule and stay on your disciplined schedule.

The LORD's instruction in Numbers 33:52 to the generation of Israel about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan was this: "You must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines."

But what happened? We are told that they did not drive out all the people and they did not destroy all the images and shrines. Instead, they made treaties with some, enslaved others, and even participated in the worship of the detestable gods of the land. And this was God's response:

Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did.” The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua (Judges 2:20-23).

This seems strange to me. Instead of simply punishing them and exhorting them once again to obey, God actually made it even more difficult for them to obey. God chose not to drive out the nations but allowed them to remain in order to test Israel. The Book of Judges is the record of the results, which was one failure after another. 

God did the same thing under Moses. He made Israel hunger and thirst and multiplied the hardships of the people in order to test them.

I make these observations to dispel the notion that it was easy to trust and obey the LORD. It was not. On many occasions God made it even harder. If you simply consider three of the greatest characters in the Bible, Job, Moses, and Elijah, you will notice that at some point in their lives they each preferred death to serving the LORD.

When we come to the New Testament, we understand that it was not only difficult but impossible to obey the LORD, at least in such a way as to be saved. But we also learn that while no one can be justified by keeping the works of the Law of God, we are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But just because salvation is by faith and not by the Law does not mean that it is easy or should be made easy. In fact, Jesus says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them" (John 6:44). In other words, just as it is impossible for people to obey God, it is impossible for people to trust Christ. God has to draw them. God has to give them faith. And when we are perfected for heaven, it is God who will finally enable us to obey Him. 

Now, when we preach the Gospel, we ought to keep this in mind. Since it is impossible for people to believe, we should not go out of our way to beg and plead for faith. Instead, we should simply be faithful to preach the Gospel and leave any consideration of outcome to the LORD.

We live in a time when "lifestyle evangelism" is in vogue, and people speak of witnessing to the same friends and family members for years upon end. Where's the the biblical precedent for this? When I consider Jesus and Paul, who are the two models for our witness, they simply preached the Gospel, and if they were rejected, they just moved on. They did not beg and plead with a persistent witness. In fact, they did just the opposite. When it appeared people were not believing in Him, Jesus simply acknowledged that it was the will of God that they did not believe (cf. John 6). He even rebuffed His own family members (Matthew 12:46-50). And when the Jews went against Paul, he simply declared that they showed themselves unworthy of eternal life and turned his attention to the Gentiles (Acts 14:36).

Should we take every opportunity to witness? Yes! Paul writes, 

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible... I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some (1 Corinthians 9:19, 21).

That said, we must not cheapen the gospel with excessive pleadings and gimmicks but recognize that we are simply called to sow seeds and water them. It is God who makes things grow. It is God who saves.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

A new generation of Israelites (those who were not under Egyptian slavery) are about to cross in to Canaan. In Numbers 33:51-53, The Lord tells them to drive all out the inhabitants and destroy all their carved images and idols and in Numbers 33:55-56, He warns them “‘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.’”

 The book of Joshua documents their conquest of Canaan. At the end of the Book of Joshua, he reconfirms the covenant with God's people and dismisses the tribes to the land that they were each allotted. But in the 1st chapter of Judges, we find out that they did not drive out the inhabitants as the LORD had commanded. Judges 1:28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. In Judges 2, we find that the next generation of Israelites didn't even know the LORD, they followed the various gods of the people around them. Judges 2:10-13 ¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. ¹¹ Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹² They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger ¹³ because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 

So by the 3rd generation, they knew not the God who brought their grandparents out of Egypt and they knew not the God who went before their parents as they conquered Canaan. This failure of the parents to completely wipe out the Canaanites becomes the barb in the eyes and the thorn in the sides of the next generation.  The generation that conquered Canaan probably reasoned to themselves that it would be better for them and their children to use the Canaanites as forced labor instead of killing them. From a human perspective it makes perfectly good sense. The parents were using human reasoning to justify their actions instead of following the commandments of God.

Likewise, Jesus also gave us rules to live by. For example, Matthew 5:38-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Some of these guidelines don't make any sense from a human perspective. So are we to ignore the words of Jesus and follow what makes sense to us or are we to trust in the LORD because His ways are perfect. If we do not follow the ways of the LORD in our generation, what will our children learn? By the 3rd generation, will they know our God or  what He has done for us?