READING:
One-year plan: Deuteronomy 1-2
Two-year plan: Job 23-25, Acts 23:12-22
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God promised His people a land, and Moses knew it and believed it. That’s why he told the Israelites to go get it: “See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deut 1:20). The people were to move forward, trusting God to fight their battles and and keep His promises. There was no place for fear or discouragement.
Still, the spies said, “No” because of the giants in the land — and the people began to listen to the spies’ majority report. Moses tried again to convince the people: “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place” (Deut 1:29-31). Moses knew God’s track record, and He knew God could be trusted again. He would again fight for His people, and the people need not be afraid.
Still again, the people rebelled. By almost four decades later, that generation of rebels had died in the wilderness as God turned His hand on His own people for their sin: “The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp” (Deut 2:15). The people let their fear of the giants in the land trump their trust of God — and disaster was the result.
I wonder how many times I’ve allowed my fear of the possibilities keep me from trusting God to march into the future.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Do you allow fear to get in the way of following God?
DAILY PRAYER: “Lord, help me not to be discouraged no matter what I face.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Deuteronomy 4-6
Two-year plan: Job 26-27, Acts 23:23-35
MEMORIZATION VERSE (Feb 16-28):
“O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chron 20:12)
*first published in 2016
