Deuteronomy 1:19

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:19-21, “And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea.[20] And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.[21] Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.” When God told the Israelites to enter into the promised land, God gave them two important commandments: “fear not,” and “neither be discouraged.” From a human standpoint they certainly had a lot to fear. They were wandering in the desert and faced the unknown every day. They knew that there were many other peoples that already lived in Canaan, and they knew there would be trouble when they got there. They knew that the other people were wicked and did not love God. But God told them, “Fear not.” Faith casts out fear, and so does love for God. On more than one occasion Jesus said the same thing to His disciples. Jesus said in Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

God told the Israelites to not fear, and He told them to not be discouraged. Without faith it is easy to get discouraged, because things do not always work out the way that we wish they would. That is a given. There will be closed doors. There will be opposition. There will be all the problems of life that can happen: disease, need, weakness, enemies, disappointment, and broken relationships. Why not get discouraged when some of these happen? A believer has the Lord Jesus, and the Lord has made great promises to always be with us, to help us, to love us, to guide us, to protect us, and to provide for us. Jesus is all-powerful. He has a plan for us. Nothing can stop that plan from being fulfilled. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:22-25, “And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.[23] And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:[24] And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.[25] And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.” They had a good plan. The first results of their plan turned out well. But then something happened along the way. They became unwilling to continue doing God’s will. That is what the next verse tells us. It says in verse 26, “Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God:” To rebel means to go your own way instead of God’s way. To serve Jesus it takes an attitude of surrender, but the heart of man can so easily rise up and start insisting on its own will. Be careful or you also will start wandering in the wilderness.

What were the children of Israel thinking? In this particular case why did they start rebelling against the Lord? It says in Deuteronomy 1:27-28, “And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.[28] Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.” The children of Israel complained (“murmured”). And the children of Israel looked on the negative side. Either one of these things will destroy faith and will keep a person from following the Lord in the life of faith. Do not complain. Complaining is against the rules. You have too many things to be thankful for to waste your time complaining. To complain is the opposite of having faith. Learn to properly interpret what is happening to you. Count your blessings. Be thankful for all things. There is a silver lining to every cloud. Look on the bright side. God is. Jesus loves you. God can do anything. He answers prayer. He has given you many great and precious promises, and He always keeps His promises.

Notice that the Israelites said, “The LORD hated us.” That is a ridiculous statement. God is love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” “We love Him because He first loved us.” “Having loved His own, He loved them unto the end.” Whatever happens to you, it happens because Jesus loves you. What a sad commentary on the dark heart of man, that people can view God in the exact opposite from what He really is. Yes, bad things can happen to anyone. We live in a world of woe. But be careful of your heart. We may not be able to explain everything or why certain bad things happen, but this is for certain: it is never because the LORD hated us. God always deals with us in love: always, always, always.

One of the major problems that the children of Israel had is that they took their eyes off the Lord and put them on people. Notice that they said in Deuteronomy 1:28, “The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.” The children of Israel thought about “the people” and how big and strong they were. And they thought about the “sons of the Anakims.” Turn your eyes to Jesus. Look at His wonderful face. Think of Jesus’ love and power and grace. Forget about what people might do against you. They have no power against God. But if you think too much about the people and what they can do against you, you will end up just like the Israelites and turn away from what the Lord wants you to do.

Instead of thinking about the enemies and the obstacles around us, what should we be thinking about? Deuteronomy 1:29-31 tells us, “Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them.[30] The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;[31] And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.” What a tremendous passage of scripture for every believer and what they must face in life. First we are told once again to not be afraid. We have nothing to fear but fear itself, especially in the Christian life. Love your enemies and you will not fear them. Love God and you will not fear anyone or anything. We are told why not to be afraid. It says in the first part of verse 30, “The LORD your God which goeth before you.” God is directing your paths. This is one of the great benefits of being a Christian. There are many forks in the road on the path of life and many crossroads. People are like sheep who need desperately to have a shepherd or they will go the wrong way. Christians have a shepherd (Jesus) who will guide them: the greatest Shepherd of all. It says in Psalms 23:1-2, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Notice the beautiful phrase, “He leadeth me.” That being the case, you have nothing to fear. Every single thing that happens to you, whether you think you have control of it or not; and whether it pleases you or not, is God’s hand leading you. Therefore, you have nothing to fear. Sit back and enjoy the ride. This is God’s will for you on your way into eternity. Should it be that this path that God has put you on leads to battle (and it will lead to battle because the Christian life is a war of good against evil,) Just make sure you use the most important weapons: see Ephesians 6:10-18, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.[11] Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.[12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.[13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.[14] Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;[15] And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;[16] Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.[17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:[18] Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

Deuteronomy 1:31 says that God “shall fight for you.” This truth should be very comforting to every believer. Yes, there are going to be battles, but the battle is the Lord’s. He has His ways of taking care of things, and He has His time. His ways are not our ways. You can be sure of this: Jesus is going to fight for you. That is bad news for your enemies. We fight the battle with faith. In other words, we trust in the Lord and wait on Him to see what He will do for us. That is why He tells us, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay.” It says in Romans 12:20-21, “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.[21] Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

The Israelites should have known that the Lord was going to lead them and fight for them because Moses told them that God would do in the future “according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.” Remember what God has done for you in the past, and you know what He is going to do for you in the future. God does not change. He is faithful always. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

God gives a symbolism in Deuteronomy 1:31. It says, “And the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son.” If you know Jesus as Savior, then you have Him as your Father too. The purpose of a human father is to symbolize what God the Father can and will do for you. You do not have to have a human father, but only understand what a father is supposed to be and then let God fill that role. If a father is going on a long walk with his young son, often the son will get tired along the way. The father will pick up the young son in his strong arms and carry him along the way. That is what Jesus will do for you. Learn to rest in the arms of Jesus. There is no stress when you do this. Here is another advantage of being a Christian. Stress can be a killer. But there is no stress if you learn to trust in Jesus. He is our Sabbath. He is our rest.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 1:32-33, “Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,[33] Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.” Verse 32 tells us that one of the problems that the Israelites had was a lack of faith in the Lord. God is going to take care of His children in every single situation that comes their way, whether it be day or night. Any time and any place the Lord will be there for you. Obviously, it is very important to the Lord that we believe Him and that we believe His promises. He wants us to live by faith. Living by faith does not mean that we do not do the practical things in life. We do them the best that we know how, but while we do them in our hearts we believe God and His Word. If you told someone who is close to you the truth, wouldn’t you be disappointed if that person did not believe you? God is like that. When trouble comes along, He does not want to hear us say something like, “Woe is me. There is no hope now. This is not going to work out.” He wants to hear us say, “This might look bad now, but the Lord has helped us in the past and so He will help us again. God has promised and He always keeps His promises.” If you want to please Jesus your Savior, make sure that you keep trusting in Him and being confident in Him.

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