The Importance of Influence

Israel stood on the edge of possessing their own land, their own country. They were in that situation for a reason. The reason had much more to do with the nature of God than it did the desire of people. Hundreds of years previously, God promised the land Israel was poised to possess to Abraham's descendents because of the incredible faith Abraham placed in God. See Genesis 13:14-18 and 17:1-8.

The purpose of the land of Canaan becoming the land of Israel was much bigger than Israel having a permanent homeland. Most every nation had a homeland--both then and now. It is common for people to want a place that is theirs, a place to belong--for confirmation of that truth, just listen to inviews of displaced people. We all want a homeland! We all want to live unthreaten in our own land! We all want homes, and food, and futures for our children and their children and their descendants. We all want a territory that bears the name of our people. Those are common human concerns.

However, the land of Canaan had to do with much more than human concerns. It had to do with divine concerns! Human concerns are absorbed by bigger human concerns. "My" territory of "my" people too easily becomes a part of someone else's territory that consumes "us." Too often "my" culture disappears by being assimilated into another culture. Too often "my" people lose their identity by disappearing as "my" descendants become part of another people who consume "us."

Ancient Israel became a nation for a purpose much more signficant than themselves. When God told the childless Abraham that he would become a nation, God announced His purposes in the descendants of Abraham in the words, ". . . in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3). The joys of ancient Israel being a nation were a mere benefit of God's purposes and intents. God was determined to bring to the world a blessing to benefit all people. Ancient Israel was merely the vehicle God would use.

Two things were critical to God's intent. First, ancient Israel must remain Israel. Second, ancient Israel must follow and reflect the living God, not the idolatry common to the world. In ancient Israel, God's influence was to be real, must be ever present, and must be continuing. It was not enough for God's influence in Israel to be powerful for a generation or for a few generations. God's influence must be enduring in every generation!

For some time it has been common to speak of the fearful God of the Old Testament and the God of grace in the New Testament. In this view, God used to be "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" God, but now He is a "love your enemies" God. One problem with that view is the failure to consider the wickedness of people in those times.

Read Deuteronomy 9:4, 5. In no way did such people reflect God or the values of God. If God was to achieve His purposes in ancient Israel as a people, they must live under the restored divine values rather than the values of peoples who worshipped idols by endulging human vices, by placing too little value on the lives of others, and by being motivated by hate and viciousness.

For the sake of His influence in a corrupt world, God commanded Israel to never forget their relationship to Him. He alone was their Deliverer. They existed because of His love for and promise to Abraham. They were His people, and as His people, they were to be distinct.

They were to prevent horrible influences among themselves by destroying and making no covenant with the people whose lands became their lands. They were not to intermarry with the people about them. They were to destroy all evidence of the worship of those who did not know God.

Ancient Israel was simply too weak morally to withstand the evil influences around them. If they were to serve God's purpose, they had to be influenced by God and God only. To preserve God's influence in their lives, they must not indulge in nor preserve influences that resisted God and His values.

What do you do to preserve God's influence in your life? If you are to be a part of God's objectives in Jesus Christ, God and God alone must be your influence.