Is This Too What Love Looks Like?
Think about what you hold most dear—your kids, your health, your life’s work. Now, imagine something threatening it. Would you sit through it, cross your fingers, and hope for the best? Or would you do everything in your power to protect it?
That fierce protectiveness is the heartbeat of Deuteronomy 7, and it might surprise you. God commands His people to “utterly destroy” the nations before them.
No treaties. No compromise. No intermarriage.
Why? Because those nations were evil and dangerous: violent, corrupt, spiritually toxic, and steeped in child sacrifice and demonic worship.
To modern ears, it sounds brutal. But what if this is love?
I mean, God is love. Everything He commands is loving, and every action He takes is loving.
So is God still loving when He says, “destroy them”?
Absolutely. His love isn’t warm fuzzies. He isn’t passive; He doesn’t shrug at what destroys. God’s love takes action. It’s battle-tested.
His love isn’t warm fuzzies—it steps in and takes action. It’s battle-tested.
God knew what would happen if Israel made peace with evil. These weren’t innocent neighbors—they were spiritual landmines. Coexistence would’ve meant collapse.
We tend to think “love = nice.” But love that only comforts and never corrects or protects isn’t love at all. True love fiercely guards what is precious.
This wasn’t sudden either. God gave those nations over 400 years to turn from evil. That’s not bloodlust—that’s patience. And even then, anyone who turned to Him was shown mercy: Rahab. Ruth. The Ninevites. This has nothing to do with race or revenge. It’s about righteousness, rescue, and relationship.
And that same fierce love led Jesus to the cross. When He came it was like an invasion, a rescue mission. He didn’t come to comfort us in our chains but to shatter them. He came to rescue us from eternal destruction.
At the cross, Jesus destroyed the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), disarmed rulers and authorities (Col. 2:15), and broke death’s grip (Heb. 2:14).
This is the same God who says to us today: “Don’t make peace with what enslaves you.” Burn the idols. Turn from the lies. But not on your own.
Let God fight the fight. “Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little” (7:22).
God doesn’t say, “Try harder.” He says, “I will do it for you—little by little.” A day at a time. If you don’t see immediate, dramatic changes, don’t be discouraged. God is working behind the scenes, clearing the way step by step.