Thorns in our Side

Before Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, God spoke to Moses and said,  "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places . . . 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." (Numbers 33:51-55) In December 1972 I turned my life over to Messiah Jesus. In a spiritual sense, I suppose you could say I left my wilderness wandering and entered the Promised Land of Christ’s salvation. But simply crossing the Jordan through my baptismal faith and confession of sins is not what kept me – nor is it what keeps me – walking faithfully with the Savior. God told the people that once they crossed the Jordan into the new land – their new life – they were to ‘drive out the inhabitants of the land.”  For if they did not drive them out, they would become “as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.” I came to Christ with a legion of gangrenous attitudes. Bitterness. Vengefulness. Arrogance. Selfishness. A blasphemous philosophy that “God helps those who help themselves.” My signature theme was “I’ll do it my way.” Listen. Let me be utterly honest with you: If I do not day after day in prayer seek the Holy Spirit to root out those attitudes which strive to take hold once again in my life, I would not be who I am today. If I do not beseech the Holy Spirit to help me clothe myself with Christ, to put on humility and compassion and forgiveness and kindness, then I would be nothing less than a scandal to my Savior – and a scandal to others who call Him their Lord. Those of you who seek to love the Lord above all else know what I am saying is true – and that it applies to every Christian regardless of age or gender or culture or theological persuasion. There be giants in this land into which the Lord brought us when we crossed our own Jordan. There be vicious and deadly giants of pride and arrogance and selfishness. And there is only one way to overcome those giants: Drive them out by the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and ongoing obedience to God’s word.  If we do not drive them out they will remain pricks in our eyes and thorns in our sides – and they will ultimately destroy us and those we love.