10-9-15. God’s Victory Within The Boundaries-my devotional

Exodus 23:20-33                                                                                        Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 23:20                                                                                        10-9-15

 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. ” (NIV)

Part 1: God Goes On Before His People (20-26)

God’s people must love and worship only God and keep his commandments.  As God’s covenant people, we must our spiritual enemies within our hearts, and struggle to keep idols out. God promises to go on before them.

Verses 20-26 reads, “20 See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.”

God knew that there would be a few problems in the Promised Land.  The Canaanite nations were in the land. They were powerful. They were war-like. They were very skilled in the art of war and subjugation. How could this nation of former slaves ever think that they can just swoop in and take over the land?  Look at verse 20, “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” Apparently there was an angel that went before the Israelites. Some say this angel was Christ. Some say the angel was Moses. Most likely this angel was a manifestation of God. God was in the angel in the same way that God was present in the pillar of fire. (13:21-22) The nature and power of God were made known through this angel.

     While there were enemies in Canaan, Israel didn’t have to worry about them. The Lord would go on before them and handle the situation. God promised to be on Israel’s side and wipe out their enemies if they paid attention to his words and obey those words.

       There was some responsibility on the part of the Israelites. Look at verses 24-25.  Israel was to rid the land of the pagan gods. (24) God warned his people about the people groups around them, that their religions could cause them to turn away from the Lord. After defeating the Canaanites, they would be tempted to adopt their customs and worship their gods. But God said, “Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices…Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.” (23:24, 32-33) His first command was to make no compromise with the Canaanites. The Canaanites were under God’s judgment, for their religion and lifestyle were corrupt and corrupting, with their child sacrifices, orgies, religious prostitution and cruelty, that went on for a centuries without repentance. The time had come for God’s judgment.

The people need to keep their hearts devoted to the Lord. They must never wander into idol worship. This is where the regular celebrations of the festivals and the Sabbath came into play. They would help people to keep their eyes focused on the Lord and remember his grace. God continually warned people to avoid false religions and false gods. In Egypt that had been surrounded by idols and sorcerers. But leaving the land of Egypt and going far away to the land of Canaan, didn’t mean that they would escape pagan influences. They were exposed to pagan religions in Canaan also. God knew that his people needed extra strength to over come, so he continually urged them to guard against the influence of pagan religions.

The same goes for God’s people today as we battle the “enemy within”. As we follow God, we are faced, with challenges, some of which seem like insurmountable mountains. We feel like we are on our last legs. But God will guard our way. He will lead our paths. But there is a prerequisite. We must never take advantage of God’s grace. We need to pay attention and listen to what God says. We need to submit to the Lord, surrendering our hearts. This is part of maintaining a healthy fear of God in your hearts.

There is also a temptation for us to worship the lesser god’s of the land we live. We are surrounded by people who worship the things of the world. There is no way to get around this unless you leave the planet, and then you still can not leave it, because you will still be exposed to media from planet Earth. But Christians are always called to live life style that reveals our faith in Jesus. This will be struggle especially if the lifestyle we are called to live differs from the norm. Our lives must show that we love God and worship and obey him, no matter what the norm is for the society we are embedded in. Every enemy must be rooted out of the land, just as every enemy must be rooted out of our hearts. Total trust in the lord, in what he has done for us on the cross and allowing his Holy Spirit to work, is the only force that can tear the idols from our hearts. Anything that we leaven in our hearer and hold onto will be a snare to us. Everything that is un-Christ like will be rooted out.

Part 2: God Will Establish His People In His Time And His Way (27-33)

In this passage we find the promise of protection. God will be very proactive to be there for his people, establishing them in his way and in his time. Look at verses 27-33,

 “27 I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. 31 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you. 32 Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. 33 Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

God promised to drive out their enemies, but not all at once. Verse 29 reads, “But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.”  God would give victory to his people little by little. They must go in by faith and obey God one step at a time. As they advanced and occupied, he would give them the land. This is how God gives spiritual victories, too. He wants us to advance little by little, challenging Satan’s strongholds within and without. He will give victories according to our faith. God has a purpose; we just need to trust God that he knows what he is doing.

We wonder why God allows certain things to remain in the land. Why does not God just make it all happen so that the entire nation is devoted to him? Not all of God’s solutions are instantaneous. In this case, God’s cause would require co-operation, persistence and effort by the Israelites. They would grow and mature through the process.

God is a faithful God…faithful to his promises given to Abraham. Look at verse 31a, ““I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River….”. God is honoring his promise to Abraham. God gave this promise to Abraham four centuries previous. The actual fulfilled would occur four more centuries in the future, under the reign of King David.

These boundaries can be also be descriptive of God’s protection. (31). God set boundaries for the people. He went before them and brought them victory within these boundaries. For a contemporary application, think of it this way. We are believers and we live in a fallen world. It is ruled by the prince of darkness. But the Lord Jesus sets boundaries, granting believers guaranteed victories within these boundaries. These boundaries are our Gospel faith as we live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: “Lord, I am facing so many challenges in life as I follow you. But I know that you are going on before me, making a way. Thank you for granting me spiritual victory as I follow you.”

One Word:  Follow Jesus And Live By Faith, God Goes On Before Us.