“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread
or afraid of them.’”
Deuteronomy 1:29
Have you ever noticed how the bible recaps and recalls events of the past? How many places do you recall reading of God saving his people from Egypt? It’s all over the place. Here, right in the beginning of Deuteronomy, we see an expanded version of that. Why do you suppose God does this? Well, I don’t know about you, but I tend to forget.
For example, stop right now and jot down all the miracles that God has done in your life. I’m talking about the big ones, ones that everyone was left speechless. Are you having a hard time at that? Tell you what, how about the last five times God has answered your prayers. Certainly, you can do that, can’t you?
Well, that’s great if you can because I can’t. That’s ridiculous. I ask God to directly intervene for me – and he does – and I can’t even remember it. I can’t praise him and give him glory if I can’t remember it, can I?
That’s why we see stuff repeated so often in the bible. One, so we truly understand that the event is important. Two, to give us a lesson for us to follow. We humans forget. Saved Christians are no different than those stubborn, rebellious Israelites who in one paragraph are saved by God’s finger and then blast him the next because he doesn’t do anything for them. Yes, I know we who are saved are different in that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, yet we still forget.
Anyway, today’s verse is from something Moses told the people as they shook in their boots about the giants called Anakim who were occupied the Promised Land. Let’s look at this:
Deuteronomy 1:29-31 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
Moses could have been talking directly to me. And you. This seems to me a verse worthy of storing up in my heart – that God will fight for me and lead me and carry me like his son. Can you picture that?
Seriously. Picture that and think of the times when he did this for you. Are some starting to come to your memory now? I’ll bet they are. Reflect on them. Relish them. Remember how good God has been to you, even in the most difficult of times, by carrying you through.
What sweet memories these are when we recall not the storm but how God cared for and protected us. At some point, what the storm was doesn’t even matter. What matters is the precious memory of God’s love for us.
Father, I thank you for all the storms and all the memories of how you carried me. I desire to keep these memories fresh and share the hope I have in you with others, just as Moses reminded the new generation in our passage today as they were about to enter the Promised Land. What rich lessons you have for us in the pages of our bibles! Thank you! Amen.
Copyright © 2019 Scott Powers