Numbers 33:49-56: a reflection

49They encamped by the Jordan, from Beth Jeshimoth even to Abel Shittim in the plains of Moab. 50The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 51Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, “When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. 53You shall take possession of the land, and dwell therein; for I have given the land to you to possess it. 54You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger groups you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. 55“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those you let remain of them will be like pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land in which you dwell. 56It shall happen that as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you.”

As Israel prepares to enter the promised land, God commands them to drive out its inhabitants and destroy their idols completely. And he adds a warning about what will happen if they do not: those you allow to remain will be like barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they will harass you in the land where you live. What they failed to remove would not simply stay neutral; it would become a source of ongoing torment, harassing them in the very land they were to enjoy.

Notice the warning: what you fail to drive out becomes a thorn in your side. God did not say the remaining peoples would be harmless; he said they would be barbs in the eyes, thorns in the sides, a source of continual harassment. Incomplete removal of what corrupts would not leave the people in peace; it would leave them with a lingering torment, the very things they tolerated becoming a source of ongoing trouble. What is not fully removed remains to harass.

That warning applies to the sins and compromises we fail to remove from our own lives. God calls us to deal thoroughly with sin, to remove it fully; and what we tolerate rather than remove does not stay neutral, but becomes, like the peoples Israel left, a thorn in our side, a source of ongoing torment. The sin we do not drive out remains to harass us. Do not tolerate in your life what God calls you to remove, thinking it will stay harmless; what you fail to drive out will become a thorn in your side, harassing you later. Deal thoroughly with the sins and compromises God calls you to remove, rather than leaving them to become a lingering torment. What is not fully removed remains to harass; do not, like Israel warned here, leave in place what will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your side, but drive out fully what God calls you to remove.

Lord, as Israel prepared to enter the land, you commanded them to drive out its inhabitants and destroy their idols, warning that those they allowed to remain would be barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides, harassing them in the land. Apply that warning to the sins and compromises I fail to remove from my own life. You call me to deal thoroughly with sin, to remove it fully; and what I tolerate rather than remove does not stay neutral, but becomes, like the peoples Israel left, a thorn in my side, a source of ongoing torment. The sin I do not drive out remains to harass me. Keep me from tolerating in my life what you call me to remove, thinking it will stay harmless; what I fail to drive out will become a thorn in my side, harassing me later. Help me deal thoroughly with the sins and compromises you call me to remove, rather than leaving them to become a lingering torment. What is not fully removed remains to harass; help me drive out fully what you call me to remove, Lord, rather than leaving in place what will become barbs in my eyes and thorns in my side.