At the end of the book of Numbers, God begins to prepare His people for living in the land which He had promised to give them. In chapter 33, He instructs the Israelites to be sure to destroy all the pagan idols in the land. They are not to let any negative influences remain. They are to totally destroy or to drive out the people who worshipped these idols. Basically, God calls them to eliminate those things that take their attention away from Him and His will for their lives. Then He gives them this warning in 33:55, “But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live.”
Whether in Egypt or Canaan or America, we will always have to deal with the Idols of the people in the land.
If we give them a foothold in our life they do the same thing to us. We don’t enjoy the land flowing with milk and honey, the way God intended, because the influences which we were to eliminate from our lives become splinters in our eyes and thorns in our sides. They harass us, rob us of the joy God intended for us as we love, worship and serve Him.
Lord, help me drive them out!