Numbers 33

But if you will not drive out the people of the land from before you, then it will be, those of them whom you let remain shall be goads in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land in which you live.

(Num 33:55)

I don’t know about you, but there is nothing quite as annoying to me as something in my eye. It drives me NUTS! Just the other morning I was putting the signs out in front of the church, and the wind was blowing so hard I thought it might take me away. As I put the sign into the ground, a really intense gust came and picked up a bunch of rock, dirt and dust from some road work going on across the street. I got two eyefuls of junk, and it hurt SO BAD! My eyes started watering, and I couldn’t see anything! I had to wait until I got back to the church to wash them out, and I hated every second of it.

Another thing happens once in a while that is equally as irritating. I’ll get a thorn caught in my shirt… small enough that I can’t find it, big enough that it makes me go CRAZY! It happened just the other day, left side, on my back, just below the rib cage… I think I dug around in that part of my shirt a dozen times that day and couldn’t find anything! I know I wasn’t making it up though because my back was red and scratched looking.

God tells the Israelites that this is what will happen to them if they don’t drive out all of the people from the land of Canaan. Those people would become like a poke in the eye or a thorn in the side… Irritants, things to distract, things to impair and impede their progress.

The Inhabitants of Canaan are a picture for us of the flesh… they give us an illustration of the territory we must take as we walk with the Lord, the enemies that must be destroyed before we can experience the fullness of God’s rest. When we allow “little sins” to remain in our lives undealt with, this is what they become. A little stretching of the truth here, a little neglect of responsibility there… These all end up creating unnecessary battles and difficulties for us down the road. As you walk with Jesus and He reveals sin to you, deal with it, don’t cover it up! A problem avoided will return; a problem dealt with by the Holy Spirit will be conquered. Ultimately none of us will be totally free of sin until the day we see Jesus face to face… but until that day let’s be faithful to deal directly with our enemy the flesh. Don’t let the “little sins” remain… deal with them!