Rid Yourself of the Cursed Things
Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “there is an accursed thing in your midst.” Hidden among you, O Israel, are things that are despised and rejected by the LORD. God was angry that Israel had not been fully obedient to him in the conquest of Jericho. One of the people, Achan, secretly kept...
for himself what he should have destroyed. Therefore, when the Israelites moved on to attack the much smaller town of Ai, God allowed them to be driven back and to suffer unexpected losses. It seems that a very “little” thing had a profound effect on the entire nation.God
told Joshua the reason for Israel’s defeat. One person’s sin concerning the
devoted things of Jericho was enough to break the agreement that the whole
nation had made with God, and so bring disaster upon it. Evidently, Achan had confiscated some of the
pagan idols and other religious artifacts that were used by the Canaanites in
their worship of false gods. God was not pleased. This act brought an impurity into Achan’s
life, his family, his tribe, and his nation.
God demanded purity amongst His people and God insisted that Israel rid
itself of these cursed things.
We
too can be guilty of bringing “cursed things” into our life, family, church, and
community. Anytime we hold on to sin in
our hearts, we are keeping back for ourself something that God has commanded us
to destroy. And to be sure – it only takes
a “little” sin to bring defeat into our lives. The works of the flesh are evident, which are:
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish
ambitions, dissensions, heresies, lust, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and
the like. If we allow any of
these “little” sins to remain unchallenged in our lives, we are bringing defeat
into our spiritual life. Rid yourself of
these things.
Just
as Achan was commanded to get rid of the accursed things, so we too must “put off all these: anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do
not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” (Colssians 3:8-10)
Thus says
the LORD God of Israel, “there is an accursed thing in your midst.” Rid yourself of the cursed things in your own
heart and life or you, too, will suffer unexpected losses at the hands of your
enemies.
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