Deuteronomy 7:1-26


Conformity is a condition that most people prefer over sticking out.  We all have the tendency to want to be like the people that are around us as that helps us to feel more comfortable.  However, God has a far different plan in mind.  He desires for His people to be different and set apart from the rest of the world.  Due to sin, the world is conformed to a pattern of sinfulness and rebellion against God.  God redeems His people so that they can set a new pattern of holiness and be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

BE CONSECRATED AS GOD’S PEOPLE: The children of Israel were about to move into the Promised Land and take possession of the land that God had given to them.  The people who occupied this land were perverse and rebellious against God.  They were idolatrous and adulterous and God was using the children of Israel to judge them for their sin.  God also made it very clear that they were not to try to integrate these people into God’s nation.  They were not to marry with them or try to live together in the land.  God wanted the nation of Israel to stand out and be separated from all of these nations.  Today we are called to conquer the nations through the spread of the Gospel.  The Gospel is the means through which the hearts of men are transformed and thereby conformed to the image of Christ.  We must never believe that somehow we must conform ourselves to the pattern of the world in order to be relevant.  We are to be consecrated unto God and separated from the world so that we can be examples of what God is doing in the calling of the nations of the world to Himself.   

BE CONFIDENT IN GOD’S PROVISION: God’s call to obedience was accompanied by His promise of provision.  He promised to bless the children of Israel with abundant harvest and good health.  God loves to bless His people and is very good at what He does.  Israel had already experienced blessing that exceeded anything that any nation had ever experienced and God was only getting warmed up.  Their land would be productive and their animals would reproduce quickly.  Israel enjoyed favored nation status with God as a result of their observance of God’s Law.  Obedience resulted in blessing which resulted in gratitude, worship and joy in obedience which only enriched the blessing.  It was a blessed cycle provided by God.  We must be careful not to expect that God will always give us material blessings as a result of obedience, but we can be confident that He will bless us in more significant ways.  He has promised us a peace that is independent of our circumstances as well as eternal reward as a result of our obedience to Him.  Frankly, I prefer those provisions above fertile cattle and soil.

BE COURAGEOUS BECAUSE OF GOD’S PROTECTION: The nations that were in the land were stronger than Israel.  They were larger, had more experience and weapons of war.  They had every military tactical advantage that was possible.  However, the children of Israel had God as their defender and strength.  God promised to go with them and drive the nations away little by little as the people moved forward to possess the land.  It would be a long process but it would be a victorious one.  It is a great comfort to know that He who is in us in greater than he who is in the world.  Satan and all of the forces of evil on this planet are no match for the believer who is empowered be the Spirit of God.  God’s protection in our lives is a tremendous blessing and one that should give us confidence to move forward in the face of any opposition.

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