You shall not be afraid of them…

By Dean Collins

But have you seen them? The size of the competition, or maybe the opposition, or even the size of the problems and obstacles? I suspect that most of us at one time or another have been afraid of what we had to face on a particular day or in the next season. Sometimes the list of challenges or the size of the problems simply seem overwhelming!

Deuteronomy was written toward the end of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. By this time God’s chosen ones had already been delivered from their bondage in Egypt. They had witnessed the destruction of a vast army that pursued them. They had been taken care of for 40 years. And now they were given instructions concerning the task of removing the people living in Canaan. 

God posed the question he knew would be in the minds of his children: “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’”. Of course the Israelites were afraid. They had the same problem we have; our memory tends to fail us when we stare at a new problem. How many times do we forget the number of times God healed us, saved us, resourced us, and protected us?

Moses recorded the answer from God as to how to not be afraid when facing the next big hurdle: “You shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out.”

A few years ago, I started using the online prayer prompts in YouVersion. When you enter a prayer or prayer request in the guided prayer program, it saves it and occasionally in the future the program will bring up the prayer with the date you originally wrote it. It is amazing to look back and see the size of the difficulty that I was facing on certain days. But guess what. I am still here! Some of the problems have been resolved. Some linger that I still pray over. What I have learned is that when facing new challenges, it is critical to review and give God thanks for what he has done for you in the past.

God is faithful and he never wants us to go into battle or face life on our own. He will go with us through every storm. One of the two lines from Deuteronomy 7 that jumped out at me as I pondered this passage is this:

“You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.”

We don’t have to dread what is ahead because our great and awesome God is right here with us as we take the next step of obedience in our journey of faith.

The second line I noticed says:

“The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you.”

Did you see it? God will clear away the problems, the obstacles, and the opposition little by little. My preference would be all at once! Sometimes God does resolve situations in an instant. But many times, he takes the ‘little by little’ approach. When God chooses the ‘little by little’ approach to solving our problems, we must remember that God’s wisdom is greater than ours, and he may be trying to teach us something along the way that we will need on future days.

Today will probably not be the last time we face something that seems much too big for us. So, as we step into the challenges of this moment, maybe we ought to take another couple minutes with God and remember what he did yesterday, last year, and ten years ago. I suspect the result will be less fear in what is ahead and more confidence that we are indeed not alone!

Father, thank you for reminding us that we do not have to fear the things we face today because you are with us. Help us to remember how many times you have delivered us in the past and that by your Spirit, you are already several steps ahead of us as we proceed into today’s dilemma. Forgive us when we grow impatient with the ‘little by little’ approach to solving our problems. We surrender our fears and our weaknesses into your hands, and we trust you to bring your victory once again. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Your Time with God’s Word
Deuteronomy 7:17-26 ESV

 Photo by Tasos Mansour on Unsplash
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