Ousted

Today’s Bible Reading: JOSHUA 15:20-17:18

Joshua 15:63

“But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.”

Try as we might, there are some things we just can’t shake. There are those things that haunt us our entire life. Oh, we may learn to live with it, but we can’t seem to drive it out. It’s those besetting sins that gnaw at us. They tempt us and try us as we struggle in our sanctification. They are deeply rooted. They are entrenched. They are embedded within us. They daily taunt us. They are unwilling to yield their long-established position.

The Israelites couldn’t drive out the Jebusites from their land. Jebus was the original name of Jerusalem (Judges 19:11) and the Jebusites were its original inhabitants. The problem here was two-fold. First, The Lord told His people to trust Him to drive them out. We are not told that the Israelites didn’t try to drive them out of Jerusalem, but that they “could not drive out”. This is probably more a case of sluggishness than one of strength. The Lord had told His people that if they would trust Him to defeat them, He would fight with them to drive the inhabitants out of the land. They were told not to be afraid or dismayed, but be strong and courageous and the result would be that the Lord would crush the enemies that they fought (Josh 10:25).

So, if the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not driven out it wasn’t because of divine ability or access, but because of apathy on the part of the people. It seems that they weren’t really determined to defeat them. Had they done so, the Lord was willing to send hornets upon them to drive them out (Deut 7:20). The Lord was willing to go to bat for them, but they wouldn’t even come to the plate. Instead, they chose to concede to the Jebusites rather than conquer them.

Second, the Lord commanded His people to turn out all the inhabitants of the land (Num 33:51-53). They were not only to drive them out but they were also to demolish all statues and structures of their idolatrous worship throughout the land. They were to do this in obedience to the Lord, to prevent those in the land from becoming “barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides” and so the Lord would not do unto Israel what He was planning to do to the idolatrous inhabitants of the land. (Num 33:55-56). Yet Israel disobeyed God by not driving all of them out. Their defiance to the Lord’s decree disabled their ability to defeat the inhabitants and brought the Lord’s displeasure upon them.

Like Israel we have difficulty driving out indwelling sin “inhabiting” our lives. We pray, we plead, and we fight. We at times gain ground, only to find ourselves being pushed back again. Victory eludes us. Disillusioned and depressed, we give up. We lay down our armor and yield to their advance. Unconquered, we accommodate them. We give them a place of residence. Maybe it’s lack of faith, or perhaps it’s the loss of the will to resist. Either way, we let them “dwell” among us. We let them live within us. We give them a place. We let them retain their post.

We all have strived to defeat sin. We have struggled to drive it out. Yet it remains. Paul struggled like we do. He was constantly battling the flesh. Little skirmishes continually confronted him. Settled sins tugged at him. Yet, he encourages us to put off the old self and put on the new self (Eph 4:22-24). He admonished us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires (Rom 13:14). He challenges us to not let sin reign in our body to obey its passions (Rom 6:12). He tells us to do what Israel did not do and that is to drive them out. So we must by the power of His Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom 8:14). So do what Israel didn’t do and drive out what doesn’t belong. Do not live with what God says to drive out.

Today reflect on those entrenched transgressions that tempt you. Thank the Lord that He has enabled you to “drive them out” by the power and presence of His indwelling Spirit. Ask Him to help you to tear down or turn out everything that is raised up against Him. Thank Him that as you follow Him, He will be faithful to fight for you and with you to drive out sin