Missing the Mark

 

No legacy is so rich as integrity.

William Shakespeare

 

They had finally made it! Standing on the bank of the Jordan River where their forefathers stood almost forty years ago, this time would be different. Yes, today, they would be responsible for making history. They were ready to forge ahead and take the land promised to their ancestors but withheld because of their unbelief. Nothing would stop them this time. Giants in the land? No problem. Outnumbered by the inhabitant that paid no homage to their God? Okay. Walls so tall that they seemed to reach beyond the heavens. Not today, nothing would stop them. 

Just before crossing the river, the Lord spoke to His chosen people. Most likely, His message caught them by surprise, for His plan that day was not the plan they had rehearsed, but the Lord knew His people well. Time had not changed their inconsistency in following Him, and they were still bent to walk away from Him when a more enticing opportunity presented itself. 

The integrity of the heart was not a strength of His people. If He let them go into the land and take possession of it, it was likely in their weakness that they would live among the pagans. The promised land intended for His chosen people would not be their land. His plan had not changed, and neither had they. Therefore, He would go ahead of them and drive out the enemy so that the land they dwell in would be pure. He then warned them to remember that His going before them conquering the land was not because of their deserving nature but rather the contrary. God would fulfill His purpose. This was His will for His chosen people.  

Have you ever felt like there was something in your life you specifically wanted to “fix” to honor and obey the Lord?  Yet, what you wanted to do and what you did were opposites? No matter how many times you tried to correct the flaw, it continually resurfaced like an old friend comfortable resting within your fragile will? If so, be encouraged, you’re among good company. Throughout scripture, there is evidence of people who desired to please the Lord but, for some reason, continually fell short. Though God knew their weaknesses and bent to sin, He never gave up on them. Neither will He give up on us.  

The Apostle Paul seems to have shared this struggle with us, saying, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Romans 7: 15-20. 

The disciple Peter, too, desired to follow the Lord, but His zealousness and refusal to see his own ability fall short often caused him to act contrary to the will of the Father and His own conviction. On the night of Jesus’ betrayal at the Last Supper with His disciples, the Lord revealed that the disciples would scatter from Him. Confidently, Peter replied, “Even if all fall away because of you, I never will.” I am sure that Peter really meant what he said, but later, Peter not only denied Jesus once but three times.

So, what does that mean for us? What happens when we do the things we don’t want to do? Can we count on God to go before us, too? It simply means that as flawed people, God must sometimes go before us to wipe out the hindrances to His plan for us. He doesn’t do this because we are always deserving, for we know we are not. He does this not because of our integrity but our lack of it. He will allow nothing, not even our flaws and failures, to thwart His plans.

It is not because of your righteousness or integrity that you are going to take possession of the land; but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. Understand then that this is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess because you are a stiff-necked people.

Deuteronomy 9:5

Friends, if you have done that "one thing" more times than you can count, if you find yourself on the struggle bus weekly, don't be conquered by your failures. God is ready to go, to stand in the gap of your weaknesses and to fight the battle you are just too weak to fight if you will but let Him!