16 You shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ 18 you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet against them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you perish. 21 You shall not dread [v]them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. 22 The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the [w]wild beasts would grow too numerous for you. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will [x]throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will deliver their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. 25 The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.
The other theme that runs through this passage is that of reliance on God. Earlier in the chapter, God flat out tells them that the seven nations are greater and more numerous than the Israelites.
He encourages them to not be afraid, by reminding them of the great miracles God did to bring them out of Egypt. Moses reminds them that God is among them, and is a “great and awesome God”. This comes back to something their parents had forgotten. It was never about their own strength to take the promised land. It was about trusting that the God who delivered them from Egypt, and gave them food and water in the wilderness, could deliver this land into their hands.
Much of serving God is about trust. Trusting that His way is right, trusting that He knows what is best for us, trusting that He will take care of us. It isn’t easy, but it sure is simple. “Trust in the Lord will all your heart…”