Get out of His way
Joshua 11:20, “For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.”
This is not a verse of Scripture that you will hear in many sermons. It’s not a happy verse that speaks of God’s omnibenevolence, His love for all men, when you first look at it. But, I believe when you truly look at it in context it shows the love of God as much as John 3:16, or any other verse in the Bible!
God delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, and now they were on the move in the Promised Land. God had ordered Israel to destroy everything that stood in their way of accomplishing the task that He had called them too. God because of His infinite love; did not want the children that He had chosen to leave anything that might later come in, and take them away from His loving care. So getting rid of all the idolatrous people and symbols was the only way to assure that His people would be safe.
God did not order the destruction of these people simply because He wanted to get rid of them, but in order to protect His people from the harm they might do in the future. The nation of Israel was His chosen people, and it was through them that He would bring salvation for all people into the world.
When Jesus Christ came into this world He destroyed everything that stood in the way of His accomplishing His final goal; the salvation of mankind. The Jewish leaders of His day were getting rich from the people by requiring people to meet their standards before Gods. In Matthew 21 Jesus cleansed the temple of God, and He said to the people who were making a profit, verse 12 “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 13 “And He said to them, “It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER ‘; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
God will not stand idly by while people interfere with the message of His love and salvation. His loving care is everlasting, but His love for us will not allow that message to be tampered with by His enemies.
If there is anything that stands in the way of you receiving the message of God’s love then you must get rid of it, or rest assure that He will!
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Father God, I thank You for loving me so much that You were willing to send Your Son to die for me and destroy all obstacles between us. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at:http://deanlbailey.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/110515-temple/
Yes, You Can Ministry 