“If you think to yourselves, ‘These nations outnumber us; how can we dispossess them?’ nevertheless, you are not to be afraid of them; you are to remember well what Adonai your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt — the great ordeals which you yourself saw, and the signs, wonders, strong hand and outstretched arm by which Adonai your God brought you out. Adonai will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.”-Deuteronomy 7:17-19
Have you ever heard the saying…
…“Everyone likes to eat but not everyone likes to hunt“?
Well, this was the mentality of the Israelites we’re dealing with here in Deuteronomy.
In other words, they were really excited about the idea of having a wonderful land they could call their own but they weren’t too excited that they would have to risk their lives to get it.
They had yet to fully realize that…
…when you’re dealing with God, you only have two choices.
You either step back in fear or step forward in faith.
There is no middle ground.
Unfortunately, 38 years earlier the first generation of Israelites let the fear of war so get the better of them that they ended up betraying God…
…and we all know the consequences of that rebellion.
God forbid the entire first generation from entering the Promised Land and they ended up dying in the desert.
Keenly aware that this younger generation may also have been harboring similar fears about taking over Canaan, Moses reminds them of what God did to Egypt and reassures them that the Canaanites have a similar positive fate in store for them…
…if they will be faithful.
Moses tells them to not lose hope or patience if it takes them longer than anticipated to gain control of Canaan.
Take a look at verse 22.
“Adonai your God will expel those nations ahead of you little by little; you can’t put an end to them all at once, or the wild animals will become too numerous for you.”
In other words, Moses is telling them that it’s NOT a good thing if they kill off too many Canaanites too quickly without leaving a necessary amount of time to establish security.
If the land is purged of the people too quickly, then “wild animals” are going to move in and take residence.
Hmmm..this seems eerily similar to what the US military should have done in Iraq but didn’t.
For those who were following the war, do you recall what happened?
The American military flew into Iraq in blitzkrieg fashion and “won” the war at what appeared to be lightning speed.
Yet it was too fast.
Because immediately after “wild animals” in the form of terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda etcetera moved in and made life so difficult for the occupying US soldiers that I bet some of them were wondering if they had actually really achieved a victory after all.
What the US military should have done is follow the Biblical protocol as outlined here.
They should have slowly but surely conquered one small piece of territory, firmly secured it and then afterwards moved on to conquering the next small piece of territory.
That’s the problem with the current fast-food, microwave and impatient culture we’re currently living in.
The hard truth is that the most fruitful AND MOST EFFECTIVE WAY of invading Iraq would NOT have been accepted by the American public.
Why?
Because we’ve been so conditioned to having everything done so quickly in our lives minus any inconvenience.
We prefer a war that’s akin to video game conflict rather than real blood and real casualties.
So what’s the conclusion of the matter and the takeaway here today?
The conclusion and the takeaway is this:
JUST BECAUSE THINGS SEEM TO BE GOING SLOW DOES NOT MEAN THINGS ARE NOT GOING WELL!
God made a promise to the children of Israel.
He promised he would deliver the Canaanite kings up to them and throw them into a such panic they would end up scattering like a bunch of frightened rabbits.
Check out verse 24.
“He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their name from under heaven; none of them will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.”
Heck, we’re told the destruction was going to be so complete that even the names of the kings and military leaders would be erased from human history forever!
So if you’re going through some challenges at the moment.
Be of good cheer!
Because this is the type of victory the Lord also has in store for us if we will only be faithful and obey.
The US invasion of Iraq by America – as with Libya – was illegal and now known to have been predicated on the lies of right wing neo conservatives- which is also nothing new for America.