Why Are They Still Here?

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Scripture:

Josh. 15:63 ¶ But the people of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so the Jebusites live with the people of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.

Observation:

God had promised the Israelites that they would be victorious over the people who lived in the promised land.  If the people of God were obedient and followed what God instructed them to do they would be victorious.  This begs the question — why couldn’t the people of Judah drive out the Jebusites?  And obviously, the Jebusites remained and infiltrated the people of God, diluting their faith.  They shouldn’t have been there — and yet they were!  Something had gone wrong.

Application:

There are times in our own lives that God gives us instructions.  These instructions may include getting as far away from the “enemy” as possible.  And yet, suddenly we find ourselves being influenced by those around us, encouraging us to be involved in activities that are not beneficial to us.  We have to ask ourselves, “Why are they still here?” 

Or maybe it’s better to ask ourselves, “why are we still here?” 

God has provided us with instructions for our lives which are found in the word of God.  Too often we don’t follow the book and then we find ourselves in extremely difficult situations.  Just imagine, Jerusalem was to go on to become the capitol city of Israel and yet, this is not realized because of the disobedience of God’s people.  How often do we find ourselves wading through difficulties because we are the ones who have gotten ourselves in the mess?  We look around and discover that we have allowed the “Jebusites” to live with us and they have brought their practices with them.  And they may not have seemed like such bad practices to begin with.  They looked just like the world — and maybe they were the things of the world, but all of a sudden they have enticed us away from our central focus, of serving God.

So if you look around and wonder why those old habits are still here; or why those old friends are still dragging you down; or why you are frustrated, maybe you ought to check out whether you’ve been obedient to the Word.  The people of Judah should have driven out the Jebusites — God had promised them victory.  He promises us victory today as well if we are faithful.

Prayer:

Lord, may I be faithful to you today in all things.  Amen.




Comments

  1. Jonathan TreesMarch 27, 2014 at 5:56 AM

    Carla, thank you for this post. We are seeing a changing Church in America and there are some important tones missing in our regular preaching , teaching and living. May God give us all grace and strength as we seek to adopt all of God's ways and keep from adapting theology/life based solely on cultural preferences.

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