The New Testament gets a lot of screen time in our era of time, I get it. It’s newer and we certainly are a people who like “new”. But there is a lot of rich teaching, amazing history and timeless principles in the Old Testament that we would be remiss if we didn’t pay attention to. I will admit, it can sometimes be challenging to read the Old Testament books and figure out how to apply the passages of old to the circumstances of today. Yet it’s still so important to press in and do the hard work, we have so much to gain from it.
Deuteronomy is quickly becoming one of my favorite books in Scripture. Maybe it’s because Moses repeats the same statements over and over again for the people and I need a constant reminder of truth over and over again, or maybe it’s the tone of compassion and concern Moses has as he gives his final address to the people he’s led for 40 years.
There is one section in Deuteronomy 20 that we were discussing recently and a friend said, “Well, what are we supposed to do with this today?” The passage was from verses 16-18:
However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. For you must devote them to complete destruction —the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
I can see what she meant. God isn’t calling us as people today to annihilate other nations today. We aren’t needing to go in and take over the promised land––it’s already inhabited by the Israelites.
The struggle the Israelites had thousands of years ago is the struggle we have today. They did indeed go into the Promised Land and win battle after battle, but when they would go into the land they began to see the things of the warring culture. They began to touch the things. Then they began to take the things, and before too much time passes, the Israelites stopped removing the things that would destroy their relationship with God and began to relish in those very things.
God had commanded the Israelites to destroy everything that would lead them into idolatry and destruction. He knew the weakness of mankind and in an effort to protect and preserve the people and their relationship with Him, God told them to destroy it completely.
The command to kill Hittites isn’t applicable to us today. But the principle of destroying anything that lead us to idolatry is. If we are to have freedom, then we must not be mastered by sin. The only place of freedom is where we are in peace with God, and we are in peace with Him when we are in relationship with Him.
In order for our relationship with God to flourish, there are things of this world that we must learn to destroy, completely.
God has challenged me to destroy my will and bend my heart toward His will.
He’s asked me to destroy my pride and humble my heart before Him.
He’s called me to kill my comfort and convenience and stay attentive to His voice.
He’s asked me to destroy my anger and walk in peace.
He’s called me to kill my bitterness and offer forgiveness.
He’s commanded me to destroy competition and build community.
No, today we may not be called to destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but we are called destroy a great many of things in our lives so they don’t lead us down a path of destruction.
Sweet friend, what is God asking you to destroy in your life that is hindering your relationship with Him? What is He wanting you to tear down so He can build something up in its place?
