The Israelites are to devote to destruction the conquered peoples. They are to show no mercy. They are to kill everyone and destroy everything. We read the law in Leviticus that anyone devoted to destruction cannot be redeemed. They must be killed.

There is a point of no return. God’s mercy is great and He extends it generously, but not for eternity. There comes a point of no return where God’s hand of mercy will not be extended to you any longer. You don’t know when that time will come for you. Choose to be devoted to God and not to destruction! But before we get to that point, God does offer mercy, He does offer grace, He does miracle works of redemption.

Deuteronomy warns that if your sons marry the daughters of foreigners, their hearts will be turned away to worship other gods. We saw this happen to even the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon. He’s the man that said, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

If the wise and understanding Solomon was able to be swayed to worship other gods, just think of the influence those wives had. Wives, you have power. Use your powers for good and not evil!

There was a period of time when it seemed like every time I opened my Bible, it opened to this verse, which was at the top of the page. “The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” (NASB 1995)

The Lord was teaching me about respecting my husband. It took me a long time to comprehend the meaning of that concept.

Now, I pray that I will do him good and not harm all the days of his life, like the Proverbs 31 woman. Do you realize that Proverbs 31 is the wishful thinking of a mother-in-law? Read the first verse if you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s the king’s mother speaking out her hopes for her son. She knew the power of a wife to do harm or good to her son.

We can read about it in the New Testament too. “In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over when they see your respectful and pure conduct.” (1 Peter 3:1 NLT, 1 Peter 3:2 ESV)

Kids, could the same be true for you? All of us really, have the opportunity to change lives by showing how God has changed our lives. Our words about Jesus don’t have any meaning if our lives don’t already show Jesus to those around us.