Numbers 33 - Steve Wiggins Daily Devotional

“But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become thorns in your eyes and in yours sides; they will harass you in the land where you will live. And what I planned to do to them, I will do to you.” Numbers 33:55-56

The image of the “promised land” can mean many different things to people. I was raised in the South. In many ways, the South always felt like my “promised land”. Every New Years Day, my wife and I watch “Gone With The Wind”. My wife usually gets so homesick, that she makes fried chicken and biscuits! Grief is good for the soul, but bad for the waistline.

For others, the “promised land” may be a relationship, a job, or anything so elusive that only G_d could provide it.

Have you ever considered the “promised land” as a metaphor for your own body? Consider that when G_d created man, he simply took a handful of dust and breathed life into it. We are G_d-breathed land.

All of mankind are born into sin. Because of Adam’s sin, all flesh is corrupted. Before people enter into a saving relationship with Yeshua, they are ruled by sinful fleshly desires. For the believer, those desires represent the “former inhabitants” of our “land”.

Yeshua bridged the gap between man’s sinful flesh & G_d’s holy standard, by supplying what we lack in terms of holiness…a difference of 100%. When Yeshua suffered on the Roman cross, He paid our sin debt; His resurrection proved the eternal value of His sacrifice. Furthermore, He is alive today and offers salvation…deliverance…free of charge, to all who would turn from their sin and receive salvation.

For a moment, imagine salvation in terms other than “Heaven”. Imagine deliverance as an opportunity to live life abundantly. Being “born again”, is much the same idea as being delivered back to our “flesh”, but now as new creations. Same old flesh, brand new “you” inhabiting it.

Once delivered back into our “land”, it then becomes our job to drive-out those “former inhabitants”. The old sinful attitudes & actions cannot remain. They will torment us unless we destroy them, completely.

Amazing, is how, when Yeshua paid our sin penalty, He literally experienced the crown of thorns in His brow, and the spear in His side. Our iniquities were truly laid upon Messiah Yeshua! (Isaiah 53)

Blessings,
~Steve Wiggins, Associate Leader, Worship Leader
Shuvah Yisrael
Daily Devotional, Monday, June 9, 2014