Numbers 36-Deuteronomy 1 Carried

Oh my goodness!

So, last night I went through nearly ten chapters of numbers without finding anything that really moved me. Tonight , on the other hand, has given me more than I know what to do with in one chapter.

So funny how that works!

I would suggest that you make Deuteronomy 1 very high on your reading list. It is a heavy chapter…

Tonight, I want to focus on verses 26-33.

This section really challenges me in two ways…first of all, it reminds me never to doubt the love of God, and it challenges to me to respond to his love with trust.

Here’s how it goes…

This is a part of the introduction to the book of Deuteronomy and it is, basically, Moses repeating the history and story of Israel.

This is describing the process of bad choices that kept Israel from getting to enter the Promised Land…

“ You grumbled in your tents and said,

"The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.

Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.' "

Then I said to you, "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 desert.

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."

In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

Here’s what Moses just described…

1. Israel was complaining (again) and they literally thought that God hated them! They lost all sight of the love that God had for them. They were no longer greatful for his love, they were convinced that he must hate them because they didn’t have the luxury that they wanted.
2. Moses reminds that Israelites of God’s love in the past. He tells israel that the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. He reminds them of God’s faithfulness over and over again.
3. Israel never responded to God’s faithfulness with trust, and was unwilling to follow him into the Promised Land. They did not choose to look at all of the examples of God’s love; they assumed that God hated them.

Israel missed out because they never saw the fact that God had been carrying them like a daddy carries his child.

The challenge for us, tonight, is to remember that we never have anything to be afraid of…because God has his arms around us all of the time. He hasn’t let go of us. He doesn’t hate us.

Instead of being afraid…look at the million ways that God has proven his love in your life.