Deuteronomy 7:17

Deuteronomy 7:17 says, If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? Moses said that they might question their ability to defeat these nations that were greater than they were.  We today may sometimes feel that the world is too powerful for us to overcome as followers of Christ when we see how powerful it is.  Verse eighteen adds, Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;  Moses said if they began to feel this way that they were to remember what God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt, which had definitely been more powerful than the people of Israel, but could not come close to standing up to God.  God is still that same powerful God.  Verse nineteen continues, The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.  Moses told them that just as God had defeated Egypt, He would defeat all their enemies in the Promised Land.  Their might was not in their own abilities, but was in their faith in God, just as ours must be today.  Verse twenty states, Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.  Moses said that God would cause their enemies to try to hide from them and be destroyed.  Verse twenty-one adds, Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.  Just like the people of Israel, we must not be afraid of the people of this world, because we serve a mighty God that nothing or no one can ever stand up to.  Verse twenty-two continues, And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.  Moses said that instead of defeating the people of the land all at once that He would do it little by little.  Though Jesus Christ has insured the everlasting victory over sin and death, in our own life our progress to victory through our faith in Him may be slow.  Verse twenty-three declares, But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.  Moses told the people of Israel that even if their progress was slow that God would be with them until all their enemies were destroyed, and He is with us the same way today.  Victory over the world does not come by our power, but by the power of God.  Verse twenty-four adds, And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.  Moses said God would deliver the kings into the hand of the people of Israel until they were destroyed.  Though we may not physically destroy all our enemies today, if we put our faith in Jesus Christ, they have already been destroyed spiritually.  Verse twenty-five continues, The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.  Moses told them that they were to destroy the graven images with fire, and warned them to not begin to desire the silver and gold that these idols were made of.  As Christians, we must never be tempted by the things of this world that would lead us away from God, no matter how valuable they may seem.  Verse twenty-six concludes, Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.  Just as the people of Israel were warned to not bring a cursed thing into their midst but were to totally detest it, so must we today.