“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.” (Jdg 3:7)
There is nothing new under the sun. The Baals symbolize the gods of materialism and the Ashteroth symbolize sexual immorality. Not much has really changed over the past 3,500 years since the days of the judges. Man’s carnal nature is the same, the devil is the same and lusts of this world are the same.
The people in Canaan served demons just like it is today with people in the world who do not serve God. We must not live or act like they do. Paul wrote:
“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” (Eph 4:17-19)
God left some of the nations in the Promised Land in order to test Israel to see of they would serve Him or not. They were there to teach God’s people to war against the lusts of the flesh.
The children of Israel failed miserably in the test. They could not withstand the temptations from the people around them. Instead of fighting them they joined them.
“So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.” (v. 5-6)
It is exactly the same today. It is so easy to fall away from God. If we do not develop a war mentality against the lusts of the flesh and learn to fight against materialism and sensuality, these powers will overtake us and make us backslide from God. We will begin to live for worldly pleasures instead of serving the Living God.
It says about the pagan nations in the Promised Land that God left there: “They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.” (v. 4)
What is the antidote to the worldly lusts and the demonic powers around us? Staying in the Word of God and obeying what He has said! That is the key to victory. Yeshua prayed for us:
“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (Jn 17:15-17)
Either sin will keep you away from the Bible, or the Bible will keep you away from sin! It’s that simple.
God bless you as you fill yourself with the Word of God, faithfully studying the Scriptures on a daily basis through the Daily Bread Bible Reading Plan, obeying what is written!
“Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” (Php 2:14-16)
We need to make the Word of God a priority in our lives in these dark days. It is the only way.
