Fear Not And Remember What The Lord Has Done
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, but you shall remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, 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 among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. 21 You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.
Deuteronomy 7:17-21
In Chapter 7 of Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to the Israelites in regards to taking possession of the land the Lord is to give to them. He is setting the rules for them when they take over the land and how they must keep God’s commandments. This means they must not follow the ways of the people in the land because they are pagan ways which means they follow other gods. They must not marry them nor accept their practices. He gives caution regarding friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Why? Because it would be easy to accept their ways once they are around them, forgetting their own God and begin practicing the ways of other gods.
Moses goes on to tell them about the blessings of being obedient and how God will love them and bless them, multiply them, blessing the fruit of their womb and the fruit of their land. How God will bless their grain and their new wine and oil, increase their cattle and the offspring of their flock. They shall be blessed above all peoples and there shall not be a male or female barren among them or among their livestock and so on (verses 13-14). Yet in verses 17-21 and further, he addresses fear, knowing they will be going up against some major nations that could be, in their sight, stronger and more experienced in war. Moses is reminding them to remember the mile markers. Those times where God protected them and saved them from those who were chasing them and trying to harm them. Moses wanted to make sure that fear did not strike their minds and hearts which could prohibit them from moving forward and taking the land, so he reminded them of what God had done to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians (as the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt) and the great trials which they saw. He reminded them of about seeing the signs and wonders of God and how God had brought them out of slavery by his outstretched arm. Moses did not want them to forget how mighty and powerful their God is when they go into the land and come up against other nations and armies. He did not want them to say in their hearts “These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?” (verse 17). Moses wanted them to remember who their God was who saved them and how, when they are obedient to God’s commands, He will save them again and protect them.
When we come out of our own slavery be it to addictions, fear, anger, finances, depression, anxiety, illness, etc and we move forward into new found territories, we must not fear what we face. Many trials and problems will come our way that will cause us to fear due to their size and the damage they could cause. However, we must always remember how strong and powerful our God is and how He freed us from our own personal slavery. We must not allow the size of our problems to cause us to fear moving forward. We must not allow the size of our illness to cause us to shut down in fear and stop doing what God has called us to do and to stop living life. We must not allow the words or actions of someone to cause us so much hurt that we become enslaved in bitterness or fear and neglect turning the problem over to God.
As we move forward in our newfound freedom, we must realize we will encounter problems and people who will try to stop us. Therefore we must be careful about who and what we allow into our lives that may try to pull us away from God and lead us back in the wrong direction…back to slavery. Satan will do what he can to pull us back into our old ways in order to enslave us again. Just as Pharaoh and his army chased down the Israelites after they had left Egypt in freedom and trapping them at the Red Sea, Satan will try to do the same with us. But we must remember how God came to the rescue of the Israelites, made a way for them by parting the Red Sea, and then closing up the sea on the Egyptian army. God saved them at a time when it appeared they had no way out. We serve a God of the impossible as it states in Matthew 19:26:
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
There will be times when no man can help us and God is the only way to go. He should always be the first one we go to yet we seem to make Him the last resort. But it is in those times that He shows his true might and rescues us from our problems.
As you move forward into new territory, do not fear what comes your way. Stand firm in faith and bring your concerns to God. Allow Him to work on your behalf. True there are times we must move forward in faith and do our part, but there are also times when we cannot do anything and must wait upon God to do His mighty work. This means we must be patient which can be a very hard thing to do when faced with a situation that causes fear and worry. At those times, we may want to jump in and put our hands into the situation as we feel we must do something, but those are the times we must be patient and wait upon the Lord to act.
Whatever situation you are going through, bring it to the Lord and seek His face. Then believe that He will help you, remembering Mark 11:24:
Therefore I say to you,whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.