CAC LIVING WATER DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR FEBRUARY 22, 2022 : TOPIC – ANY ACCURSED THINGS IN YOUR MIDST? (I)
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Tuesday, February 22, 2022
ANY ACCURSED THINGS IN YOUR MIDST? (I)
Read: Joshua 7:10-15
Joshua 7:10-15 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
MEMORISE:
Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you” (Joshua 7:13)
EXPOSITION
This question is extremely important for us to reflect on as the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). Israel had fought and defeated great nations on her way to the Promised Land. The Israelites saw God in action for them on several occasions. Before their very eyes, He parted the Red Sea and made Jordan to give way for them to cross into the Promised Land. All these happened because the Lord was among them, and He was faithful to His covenant with them. That is the covenant-keeping God for you!
There is a law in Israel’s God-given constitution that stipulates that a person or thing devoted to destruction must be totally destroyed without the possibility of redemption (Lev. 27:29). The whole city of Jericho fell into that category – devoted for destruction, and so was meant to be so. Anything otherwise amounted to flouting divine order, and to that would inflict destruction on offenders. However, on the positive side, the people of Israel were “devoted,” “separated” to be God’s “treasured possession” and “Kingdom of Priests” (Exod. 19:6). The tribe of Levi was ‘devoted’ to the Lord. The priests were ‘devoted’, and Aaron was given a special appointment as the high priest.
Things that are ‘devoted’ in a negative sense are things under divine ban, things that are doomed, and anathema. Achan coveted this and brought trouble into the entire theocratic state of Israel! When a man covets what God hates, he brings upon himself the unbearable wrath of God (cf. Rom. 6:23). God hates sin with passion. Anyone who goes contrary to this incurs His wrath. May the Lord help us not to fall in the circle of God’s enemies. Amen.
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Give God praises for setting you apart for His holy use.
2. O Lord, search me through and through. Help me to discover and appropriately deal with any godless tendency or attitude in me.
3. Lord Jesus, deliver Your Church in the land from godless infiltrations from the pit of hell.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Numbers 25-26