SWORD OF THE SPIRIT                                                                                               1259

“The High Places”

Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. – Numbers 33:51-52

The Lord gave the promised land to the nation of Israel because of His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and because of the abominable pagan practices of the people that lived there.

… it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you… that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. – Deuteronomy 9:4-5

This was the basis for the admonition of the Lord for the people of Israel to destroy the high places of idol worship and thereby ‘cleanse the land’. Sadly, they did not obey, and we see throughout their history that the high places remained and became a snare to them adversely affecting their intimate relationship God.

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. – Jeremiah 7:31

Fast forward to our current century and we see that little has changed. We still have ‘high places’ i.e. anything that we place in a priority position ahead of our relationship, trust, and obedience to God’s Word.

You shall have no other gods before me. – Exodus 20:3

High places are a compromise with the pagan culture of people around us. It was true in Old Testament times, and it is true today. High places dilute our trust in the one, true God and are idolatry.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. – 1 John 5:21

I grew up in a religious tradition of praying, offering sacrifices to, and worshipping ‘patron saints’ and other biblical persons instead of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus – 1 Timothy 2:5

Idolatry is putting your faith in anything or anyone other than our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. – 1 Corinthians 10:14

You may say that we do not sacrifice our children like they did. Don’t we? Abortion is sacrificing our children to the god of mammon. ‘We cannot have a baby now, it will be an inconvenience to our careers, earning potential, and desired lifestyle’.

The dictionary defines mammon as “wealth being a false object of worship and devotion”.  We worship the idol of mammon in our selfishness, greed, covetousness and reckless desire to gratify the lust of our flesh.

Other high places of idol worship today are:

Worry balls – stress and meditation balls that are rolled around in your hand instead of praying to God and seeking His peace.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. – John 14:27

Drugs and alcohol– from nicotine to controlled substances – giving a new meaning to ‘high’ places. Choosing to become numb to the reality of our circumstances rather than facing them in the power, strength, and presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober… But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. – 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8

Positive ‘self-talk’ – the world’s approach is to be rooted in self while the Christian approach is rooted in the Truth of God’s Word. The world and self say: ‘You got this!’ God’s Word says: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. -Philippians 4:13’ Both are positive self-talk, only one is grounded in Truth.

The world says: ‘I am a good person and better than most. I am righteous on my own.’ God’s Word says we are righteous only through Jesus.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

God brought the nation of Israel across the Jordan to the promised land. In a sense we ‘cross the Jordan’ today when we repent of our sin and accept salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Like the Israelites, we also need to destroy the high places that remain in our life as we grow in our relationship and walk with Jesus. This is the process of sanctification.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. – Colossians 3:5

May the Holy Spirit reveal to you the high place strongholds of idolatry that remain in your life and give you the power and strength to destroy them in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. – 2 Corinthians 10:3-4