Consuming Fire Ahead

[S] Deuteronomy 7:3-4; 8:4,5; 9:3--
^7:3"Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.
⁴"For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.
^8:4"Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.
⁵"Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
^9:3"Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so thatyou may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.

[O] God made it clear about how the Israelites were to completely destroy the Canaanites as they conquer that land because of the reasons He laid out here which, in a nutshell, was so they would not veer off from following God wholeheartedly. As this veering off takes place gradually through small compromises God commands the Israelites not to intermarry with the Canaanites because even though it may seem harmless on the surface, over time this will draw the people's hearts to server other gods and since we have a jealous God, He won't like that at all. If I stop here, the image of our God is the strict and stern one demanding His people to conform to His harsh rules and procedures. But He reminds His people that He is a caring and loving God who desires us to fully enjoy our lives as He had intended in the first place; He reminds His people how for forty years even their clothing and sandals didn't wear out (not by coincidence). How much more would He have cared for people's future well being then? As noted in 9:3 -- very much! He goes ahead to prepare the path for us. He will destroy and subdue them so the Israelites would wipe them out quickly and completely.

I am encouraged by His going ahead of me to prepare me to conquer my life's obstacles. What a comfort that is because my life does have more than enough challenges for me to tackle. At the same time, I also noticed from 9:3 that He involves me in completing His plan for me to live a victorious life. He didn't wipe clean the Canaanites for His people to enjoy the "virus-free" lives in Canaan. The people still required trust and faith to obey God's commands of completely destroying the Canaanites. However, as we read from other parts of the Bible, we know they failed to follow this through and did not destroy and drove out the Canaanites completely. This is the story of my life where I struggle to completely drive out my old nature in me while God desires for me to do that in order for me to bask in His amazing presence while on earth.

[A] What "intermarrying" in my life should I avoid? The list is not short, but for now I need to focus on not giving in to undisciplined use of my daily schedule. This starts with my getting up early to start the LJ and time of prayer with so many needs around me. So, my intermarrying is giving into making myself too busy with non-essential items first so end up spending late hours to get to all the tasks and thus starting the vicious cycle of unable to get up early, etc.

[P] God, You've given me the same 24 hours everyone else has in a day. I want to be more disciplined about utilizing my hours so I am maximizing to tackle the essential items first so I can also be disciplined about my sleeping and waking up time. Even though this may not bear much spiritual aspect, I am convicted this would allow me to draw closer to You every day. So, please help me through Your Holy Spirit to guide me. I trust in You who said will fight ahead of me as a consuming fire. In Jesus' name. Amen.