Barbs for Your Eyes and Thorns for Your Sides

 Life can be uncomfortable. We must learn the things that make our life go well and the things which bring discomfort. Then, we must be disciplined to remove the things that bring us trouble, and we must focus on the things that bring us a good life. The problem for many people is that we simply "go with the flow." We allow the people around us to set the agenda for our life. We end up doing what everyone around us is doing. Then, we wonder why things are not going well for us. God warned Israel about this situation before the new generation entered the land of Canaan. (Numbers 33:55) He told them to drive out the inhabitants of the land. God knew their ways of living would lead the Israelites in the wrong way. He knew that those they allowed to remain in the land would become barbs for their eyes and thorns for their sides. These troubles would harass them in the land, if they did not obey Him. The same is true for us, as believers, today.

As Christians, we are children of God. We are citizens of heaven, not of this world. Jesus told us that we were to live in the world, but we must not be "of the world." God will only bless us with an abundant life, as we live in a way that honors Him and brings glory to Him as our Father. Therefore, we have to drive out of our life everything that has come to us from the world around us and replace it with the things of the Lord. This is a process which takes time, and it can only happen by the grace of God moving in our lives. Therefore, we must be very intentional, like God called on Israel to be. We must take stock of what is residing in our heart, our mind, and even our body that is not from the Lord. Then, we must throw out those things willfully. Once they are thrown out, we must not allow them back into our life by what we see and hear, and the people we allow to influence us. At the same time, we must fill our heart and mind with God's Word, and we must only do with our body what God's Word shows us to be helpful. This process will bring us to the abundant life, but the opposite will cause us to have barbs in our eyes and thorns in our sides all the days of our life. Please, be diligent to obey this principle, so you can rid yourself of much pain and discomfort for the rest of your life.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Numbers 34-35 and Deuteronomy 1.