The spirit of the Hittites
The
word Hittite means: fear, terrified, broken or amazed.
The
Hittites were one of the first enemies that the Israelites encountered when
they came into the land of Canaan. One of the first things that we have to
overcome in our own personal lives is fear, if we are going to move forward in
the things of God. The first time ‘fear’ is mentioned is after Adam sinned,
when he was afraid and hid himself from God.
The next time we see ‘fear’ is in the
life of Abram when he went down into Egypt and his fear caused him to lie about
his relationship to his wife Sarai. ‘I know you are a beautiful woman. When
the Egyptians see you they will say, “That is his wife”, and they will kill me
but spare you. Tell them you are my sister, so that they may treat me well
because of you. (Gen 12: 10-20). So his fear caused him to lie.
We see this
in the life of Peter when he denied Jesus. He also lied to save his own skin,
for fear of being found out. Jesus had already told Peter that he would be
handed over and tortured and that he would die and rise again. Peter was afraid
of dying, he didn’t want to suffer pain and it wasn’t until later, when Jesus
indicated what kind of death Peter would have, that Peter was released from his
fear. Peter’s problem was not his fear; it was a lack of understanding of the
knowledge of the Love of God.
‘In
love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to
fear is to expect punishment and anyone who is afraid is still imperfect in
love’. (1 Jn 4:18).
Some
of the things that people are afraid of are sickness; the future; lack of
finances; tragedy and calamity and many other things. If we take note of what
Job said,’ whatever I fear comes true whatever I dread befalls me’. (Job
3:25). Fear will prevent us from inheriting God’s blessings.
Paul
wrote to Timothy telling him that he had ‘not received a spirit of fear, but
of power and love and of self control’. Paul was writing from prison and
Timothy was taking his place in the Church in Ephesus and because of that he
was going through the same kind of persecutions and stress that Paul had been
subjected to. So out of prison Paul reminds Timothy to ‘stir up the gift
that God gave you when I laid my hands on you¾you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the
Lord’. (2 Tim 1:6-8).
One of the
greatest snares that prevent us from sharing out the word of life is the fear
of man. The fear of being ridiculed, the fear of being laughed at but maybe
most of all, the fear of being rejected. Let’s say that there is some area in
my life where I feel that I need to share with you. How can I become
transparent with you in sharing my feelings and my emotions, if the fear of
rejection is there? Every week when we go to Church we usually meet the same
faces. We should have the freedom to turn to the person sitting next to us to
share out the word of life, or to ask that person to pray with us for a
specific need, or just to be able to bring up things that are bothering us, so that
we can get help and be set free. That’s the influence of this Hittite
spirit and an awful lot of people are
under its influence.
There
comes a time in all of our lives when the ‘axe must be laid to the root of
the tree’. (Matt 3:10). We need to come to a position where we can say that
‘The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Ps
118:6). You may know in your head that God is with you. You may know from
reading about it or from someone else telling you about it. But if you are in
the Lion’s den, head knowledge won’t do you any good; you need to know that he
is there with you to rescue you. Unfortunately in this day when more and more
are turning away from God, you will see a greater increase of fear in people’s
lives.
There
is a text in Isaiah that says, ‘do not fear what they fear, and do not dread
it’. (Is 8:12) Here Isaiah is talking about the Assyrians coming in and
they are in a wilderness. Sometimes when we go into a wilderness experience in our
own lives we lose the sense of God’s presence. God is always there, it just
seems that he has gone on holiday and we can’t seem to contact him. That’s what
happened to the Israelites at various stages in the wilderness and they lost
their relationship with the Lord.
We are told that they looked for a God that
they could see.
- So they turned to idolatry. They wanted to be like other nations and worship Gods that they could see. What would you classify as idolatry? It’s setting your affection upon some material object. At this time when the Assyrians came in and they had again broken relationship with the Lord, we are told that they turned witchcraft.
‘When men tell you to consult mediums and
spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people enquire of their God?’ (Is
8:19).
Saul when he no longer heard the
voice of God? He turned to a witch.
- Why do you think people today are turning to the occult? They are turning to mediums, to crystal gazing, to their horoscopes, to palm reading, to tarot card reading, to teacup reading, to faith healers, to lucky charms, all because they have lost their communication with God.
Then they turned to Egypt, that is, they turned to
outside sources for help.
- A person who has fear in their life has done that. A person with fear has not established a right relationship with the Lord. They have not matured in love with the Lord, so they might turn to idols and this is what people in the world are doing and so they get fearful. They look to people for answers.
‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever present
help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth
gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea¾The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our
fortress’. (Ps 46: 1-7).
The whole purpose of this spirit of the
Hittite is to break your relationship with the Lord. This spirit will use the
circumstances of your life to bring in’ fear’. That’s what this spirit did to
Peter when he walked on the water.
If you serve the Lord out of fear instead
of love, then it will cause you to be spiritually impoverished, like the man
who buried the talent.
Is fear such a crippling thing that it
will cause us to be bowed over in the presence of God? Yes¾Look at Adam.
Don’t let this spirit of the Hittite
cripple your walk with God. It will ‘come against you but will not overcome
you’. (Jer 15:20).
‘Do not be afraid, do not be daunted by this vast
horde; this battle is not yours but God’s’. (2 Ch. 20:16).
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