Sudoku and Sin. Daily Devotional - May 24, 2010

Daily Bible Reading - Numbers 33, Psalm 78:1-39, Isaiah 25, 1 John 3

My husband was a math major, I was an art major. Complete opposites. When I first started playing Sudoku, he would laugh at my strategy. My right-brained artist's mind would fill in numbers wherever they looked good and then change things later. The changing things later ended up being hours of unnecessary work that I could have spared myself if I would have taken my time to do it right the first time. My husband graciously showed me a better strategy. One that takes a concerted effort in the beginning, but less frustration and work in the end.

In Numbers 33:55 God gives a command to the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites, a nation that was full of idolatry, witchcraft and paganism: "'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.' "

God commanded His people to destroy them completely and immediately because of their great corruption and wickedness. He warned them that if they did not obey, the Canaanites would later become a source of great frustration. The Israelites were moving into their promise land and they had a choice to make: they could either destroy the wickedness or settle down and live with it. Unfortunately, they chose the latter.

With our Sinsation series, I believe God is like the gracious husband showing us an easier strategy for life. We can get rid of the sin in our lives now, or we can become comfortable with the growing compromise. If we don't do the job right the first time, it can become much more difficult to accomplish. It becomes like the Sudoku puzzle with numbers in all the wrong places, a confusing and frustrating maze. God speaks of nations who choose this path in Psalm 9:15 "They're trapped, those godless countries, in the very snares they set, Their feet all tangled in the net they spread. They have no excuse; the way God works is well-known."

Now is our opportunity make a concerted effort to drive out any compromise in our lives, so that we don't have to do it the hard way later. I'm so glad we serve a God who shows us the Canaanites in our lives that could potentially ruin our promise land!

Thanks for reading,
Mel Miller