February 1 – Judges 1:27-36
27 Manasseh
did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach
and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the
inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its
villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. 28 When
Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive
them out completely.
29 And
Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites
lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun
did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants
of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to
forced labor.
31 Asher
did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of
Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, 32 so
the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they
did not drive them out.
33 Naphtali
did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of
Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land.
Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject
to forced labor for them.
34 The
Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not
allow them to come down to the plain. 35 The
Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in
Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they
became subject to forced labor. 36 And the border
of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
As I thought about how to
pose a question for this passage, a couple of phrases continued to catch my
attention. I read repeatedly “they became subject to forced labor as well as” and the phrase “did not
drive out the inhabitants of”.
It dawned on me that once
again their disobedience to God’s word would cause them great difficulties as
the children of God. God wanted the land cleared of these people for a number
of reasons. He did not want His people, the Israelites, to be tempted to accept
the culture of these foreigners. He did not want his people worshipping their
idols or gods. He did not want His people to be anything but HIS people. He
wanted them to be set apart.
As I thought more about
this, I was reminded of a sermon I listened to yesterday. Do I set myself apart
from our culture by my actions? Do I seek opportunities to grow in my
relationship with God or do I spend my time being entertained by the trash our
culture accepts as “entertaining”? Do I place my relationship with Christ
first? Am I truly an alien in this land? Earth is not my home. Matthew 6:19
says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.”
Where is my obedience in
this scripture? Where is yours?
Heavenly Father, Debbie is
so right in how we seem to blend in with the world around us and sometimes it
is hard to tell who is a follower of Jesus and who is doing the work of the
enemy. Do we use the same popular
phrases that the rest of the world does that brings dishonor to Your name? Do we dress the same as the world does without
thought to what others might see? Lord,
help me to be different from the world in how I act, talk, and present
myself. I want others to know there is
something different about me. I want the
world to not even see me, but to see You when they look at me, hear me and talk
to me. Help me be more like You and less
like me.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen!
Comments
Post a Comment