“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…”
That quote is from the C.S. Lewis book, “The Screwtape Letters”. It’s a fictional book authored from the viewpoint of a senior demon instructing a lesser demon, his nephew, on how to guide the human he’s responsible for towards the devil and away from God Almighty referred to as “The Enemy” in the series of letters. It’s true though, isn’t it? The safest road to hell is indeed a gradual road. That road is a nice wide and comfortable road. It’s a road with big and comfy wide lanes giving us plenty of room to veer back and forth. It’s a road with all sorts of distractions, diversions and what seem to be shortcuts.
As the Israelites traveled on their journey to the Promised Land, I’m sure they came across many different bypasses or shortcuts. While under the leadership of Joshua, they conquered many different nations, territories and tribes once they entered. Even before they entered the land they were promised, God, through his servant Moses, relayed his instructions on what to do when this happened and why it’s important in Deuteronomy.
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:1-7)
When Joshua was leading the Israelites, for the most part this is what happened. They obeyed God’s instruction and completely eradicated the inhabitants from the lands they were to occupy. Because of their obedience, God allowed them to prosper. Although, after Joshua died, things started to gradually change within one generation. I’m not sure what caused them not to evict the Canaanites from the territories they conquered, but they failed to remove them completely. Like a cancer, the ungodly influence and practices of the Canaanites started to infiltrate and weave it’s way into the lives of the Israelites, slowly taking the nation down that gentle slope towards hell. It could have been laziness. It might have been the mindset that “We beat them in war, they’ll have to obey us now. That’s good enough.” Song of Solomon 2:15 references this when attitude and action when it says “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Just as those little foxes may be cute and appear to be innocent, they will wreak havoc and ruin the vineyards. The same can be said for the practices of the Canaanites allowed to stay. Their sinful practices and lifestyles that are against God’s holy direction were easy to allow because they were most likely pleasurable and easy to adjust to. Within one generation the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the gods of the Canaanites. In His anger towards the Israelites the Lord allowed them to be plundered by raiders and defeated in battle after battle.
The Israelites didn’t make the decision to abruptly walk away from the faith of the previous generation. There was no town-hall meeting to vote on it. As a nation they slowly and gradually walked away down the path of least resistance; down a road with big comfy and easy to maneuver lanes.
This made me think as I read this account in Joshua and Judges. Am I taking the easy and wide road by tolerating sinful practices because of convenience? Am I saying “That’s good enough” when I know full-well that it isn’t? Am I allowing a sheep in wolves clothing into my life and also have influence over my family? As I prayed over it, I was convicted of innocent little foxes that I have indeed let in. What about you? What little foxes need to be evicted from your vineyard?
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
Father God, forgive us for allowing the little foxes entrance and accessibility to our lives. I ask that your Holy Spirit continually reveal to us the little foxes that we’ve let into your temple. I ask that we would be receptive to the promptings of those revelations and obey when instructed. Lord, our desire is not to travel down the wide and easy road, but rather to enter through the small gate and travel down Your narrow road as we depend our Your Word to light our path. Father, guide our steps. Amen.
