Do Not Be Afraid

I found SIX things worthy of discussion in today's reading, so I read ahead to see if any of these themes would be repeated as we progress through the week. As I suspected, some will be repeated, so I'll cover them day by day so as to not post a 5,000-word screed. The six themes are:

1. Deuteronomy 3:22--do not be afraid, the Lord will fight for you.

2. 4:9--remember what happened and teach the children

3. 4:26-28--what will happen if they forget the Lord

4. 4:29-31--the forgiveness they'll receive when they return to the Lord

5. 4:32-34--the wonder of the Lord

6. 5:29--the benefits of following the Lord

Beginning with the first, in Deuteronomy 3:22, the Lord states "Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you." As we remember, the very reason they spent 40 years wandering in the desert was precisely because of their fear of the inhabitants of Canaan. At that time in Numbers 13, the 12 spies were sent out to scout the land, not to report on the inability of the people of Israel to defeat them in battle. They ignored the promise of the Lord and paid the price. Now, the Lord is reminding them that although it will be the men of Israel who will be going into war, it will be the Lord who will fight for them. As such, the battle is already over.

This is an easy enough concept for us to understand , but the underlying message still speaks to us today. Nowhere in Deuteronomy will we see that as Israel battles the people of Canaan that there won't be losses. Men of Israel will die, there will be property damage, and God won't just go forward and clear the land. It's the same today--the Lord will fight our battles, and in some cases, has already fought and won them BEFORE WE EVEN KNEW WE WERE AT WAR. We might suffer setbacks and losses, and some of them will hurt. However, the Lord didn't stop fighting for his chosen people after the Israelites took over Canaan, and won't stop fighting on our behalf until he comes back again and ends the war four our souls once and for all. In other words:

     We know the Lord DID fight and win for his people then

     WILL fight and win for his people at the Second Coming

Shouldn't we believe that he IS still fighting and winning for us today?