Gtcotr/ss031625
You’ve heard the saying: “The devil we know is better than the devil we don’t know.” That’s not the truth. Both are horrible and they both want to kill, steal, and destroy you.
Hebrews 3 NKJV
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness.”
Last week we discussed why the Children of Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness. It was basically because the devil they knew seemed better to them than the devil they didn’t know. In fact, more than once the leaders and the people argued and even launched protests aimed at forcing Moses to lead them back to Egypt and to the bondage they once knew.
People sometimes get comfortable in their sin and often they don’t even know what they are missing. It is evident that some of the Children of Israel weren’t as motivated as were God and Moses. This is not an uncommon problem. Virtually every parent has faced trying to get a child to be as excited about getting up and going to school as they should be. You can think of so many other examples I know.
It was an easy choice to run from the enemies they'd always known but not so easy to run towards enemies they’d never known.
But the reason God delivered the Children of Israel from the enemies of their past, was so they could help Him conquer the enemies of their future.
Exodus 3 NKJV
7 ¶ And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8 “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.”
The devil they knew was life in Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt has at its root meaning: To confine; limit; fence in; cramp; enclose; bind; distress; or to build a stronghold against. This was the devil they knew, and it is the same devil who is lord over every lost person.
Getting people to do what is best for them or at times what is even critical for them is not always easy. Motivating people to do what’s right is a hard job. Nonetheless, God wanted to bring His children out of their bondage in Egypt. And He wanted to bring them up and into a land flowing with milk and honey … but there were giants in the land … enemies they had never faced. Let’s take a brief look at the six enemies God told His children they would encounter in their new life.
Each one of these “ites” represents an enemy that can be recognized by their Hebrew name. God called them:
For some reason it seems easier for God to get His children out of the world than it is to get the world out of His children. As we said earlier, we cannot live a victorious life with one foot in the Kingdom and one foot in the world. A little compromise goes a long way … keep going and soon you will arrive … keep acting like the world and soon no one will even know you’re a Believer.
This demon spirit wants to limit us living our Christian witness in the wilderness, short of the Promise Land.
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
It’s not only about your victory over the situation, but also about your victory in the situation. You get victory when you trust God above the things you see.
What do I do when I face a Canaanite who is tempting me to compromise? What do I do when I face a Hittite who is trying to break me, confuse me, and make me afraid?
There are two things you don’t want to miss. One is the rapture of the Church, and the other one is next Sunday. Next Sunday we will continue our series by uncovering two more of the enemies God mentions in Exodus 3. Specifically the Amorites and the Perizzites. If you want to get ahead, begin reading through the book of Exodus and the book of Joshua.
