Bible Recap Week 11

This week we enter the book of Deuteronomy as Moses reminds Israel of all God has done for them and calls them to remember His faithfulness. As they prepare to enter the Promised Land, the focus is on obedience, trust, and loving God with their whole hearts.

Week 11 reminds us that remembering God’s goodness helps keep our hearts aligned with Him as we walk forward in faith.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So you can live like Jesus. Love like Jesus. I love spending time in the Word with you like this. So let's get started. Welcome to the podcast for this week. Today we are opening up the book of Deuteronomy, or I guess this week we've started reading in Deuteronomy. And we start in chapter one by listening to Moses as he reminds the people of Israel of a painful moment in their history. It's a moment that changed everything. In Deuteronomy chapter one, Moses is speaking to now this new generation of Israelites. The first generation is the that generation that left Egypt, having uh mostly, they have all now died in the wilderness. And uh their children now are standing on the edge of the promised land again. And unless mom and dad had told them the story, um they may be hearing it for the first time. And Moses begins um by by telling them the story that they must never forget. And it's the story of when they almost went into the promised land, but fear stopped them. The moment they had almost gone into the promised land and they had forgotten all the things that God had done for them in Israel, he had delivered them from slavery, he had parted the Red Sea, he had fed them with manna, he led them with a pillar uh of cloud by day and fire by night. Uh, God had showed them time and time again that he is with them. But when they arrive on the edge of the promised land, Moses says to them in chapter 1, verse 21, and see the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession, do not fear or be dismayed. And instead of going in, um, the people asked Moses to send spies to scout the land first. We remember that in our reading. And so twelve spies go, they look at the land, when they return, there's two uh there's two parts. The first part is the good news. It's the land was everything that God had promised. It was fertile, it was abundant, it was beautiful. But then came the part that shaped the future. Ten of the spies said, But the people are too strong, the cities are fortified, they look like giants. And suddenly the people forgot everything that God had already done. And fear spreads through the camp like wildfire. And Moses says something fascinating in the in verse 32 of chapter one. He says, Yet, in spite of this, you did not trust the Lord your God. Notice that he says, You. Um, I can see this new generation looking at Moses saying, It wasn't me. I didn't do it, it was my parents. But Moses was saying, You, as in the nation, all you all, you didn't trust God. Uh, there wasn't a problem of lack of information, there was a problem of lack of trust. And uh and fear took over. And Moses is wanting them to know that that fear is the thing that kept them from going into the promised land. Um, fear has a way of making problems and issues and uh the enemy much larger than um he really is. Those the ten spies saw giants and they forgot that they served a God that took on Pharaoh. Fear has a tendency to zoom out um from God and zoom in on the problems. I worked with a church recently and that had received the news that their beloved pastor was leaving. And instead of remembering how God had been faithful and how God provided in the past, they panicked and they quickly made decisions that now they regret. And and uh my team and I had to remind them hey, you've got to remember the faithfulness of God. But fear has a way of enlarging um the worst of a situation. The Israelites continually forget the actions and protection and uh the the way that God provides for them. And that's what that's what fear does. Fear, fear rewrites the story in our minds, and we shift to what if and oh no's. Fear has a tendency to to um disregard the idea that a miracle could happen. Or fear erases um our memory from God's faithfulness. And fear tells us, you know, the enemy's too big, this problem's too hard, this is gonna sink you, you're never gonna get through this, the future's uncertain, this is gonna be bad. And when fear takes over, the issue becomes large and God becomes small. Um and and it and when we when we diminish God, we give into we give into the enemy, we give into the fear. Um the Israelites they I mean they knew who God was, they saw him, they they they uh uh they knew his faithfulness, they had seen his power. Um, but in that moment, um they essentially said, the God that we knew, um the God that was faithful yesterday, we're not sure if he'll be who he um says he is tomorrow. And uh, and I think that's what fear still says. Fear says, you know, I know God's been faithful before, but what if he isn't this time? I know God's helped me before, but what if this one's different? I know God's provided before, but what if tomorrow is different? And the scripture reminds us over and over again, God does not change, God does not change. And in uh uh Hebrews it says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So God's character doesn't fluctuate with circumstances. Um when we're faced with a hardship, God doesn't say, oh no, what are we gonna do? Um, his faithfulness does not expire, his power does not weaken. Finally, um, fear leads us to um often take matters into our own hands. And uh and when when we take matters into our own hands instead of trusting in God, um, we begin to make decisions based on not what God would want, but on uh what feels at that moment what feels best for me. Um instead of instead of you know, how how how are God and I gonna figure this out? We say, how am I gonna figure this out? And we trust in ourselves with limited information and limited power, right? We don't have, we don't, we're not omn omniscient, we're not um omnipotent. Um only God is. And that's exactly what happened with Israel. And it it froze them out in the dist, not not physically, but it physically froze them um in for 38, 38 years more in the desert. Um 38 extra years wandering in this hot desert because they believed fear instead of faith. So um fear, I mean, it makes us uncomfortable, but it fear has a has a tendency to um to to delay God's purpose in our life. Um something that came up in the reading um this week uh that jumped out to both Lisa and myself was uh when Tara Lee Koble in her video, if you're following along with the Bible app, um she brings this up in her video, and I thought it was really powerful because it added uh another dimension to um to this. When we give into fear in instead of trusting who God is and his character, we are actually doing something even deeper than not trusting God. We are taking God's name in vain. I don't know if I don't know if you heard that um in the video, but you know, many people think um you take God's name in vain if you're if you're using it with profanity, or um in in my home that I grew up, we were not allowed to say God unless we were addressing God in prayer or maybe talking about God, what God had done for me. Um my mom didn't even like the word gosh because she knew, you know, if we said the word gosh, then what we really wanted to say was God, and that was just as bad. And so you're still taking the Lord's name in vain. Um, the same with the word shoot, but but I won't go any further. But so biblically, though, it's it's deeper when when we're not trusting God, it's much deeper than I'm not trusting God. It's actually taking his name in vain because we are disrespecting his character, because God's name represents his character. So, so when we when we don't believe in his goodness or his faithfulness or his power or his promises, and when we say, God, I've got this, I can handle it, um, or God may not come through, or God's, you know, God's probably won't be faithful this time, we're essentially saying that his character cannot be trusted, that he cannot be trusted. Um, and that's taking his name in vain. That's why Moses said that the real issue uh uh from not going into the promised land was not the giants, the issue was trust, that they didn't believe in the character of God. So let me bring this a little closer home as I as I begin to wrap this up. Fear may not keep you and um uh I out of the promised land. Uh I mean, uh obviously uh geographically, but fear can keep us from the life that God intended for us. That's how I bring this home to us. Fear can fear can keep us from obeying a calling, fear can keep us from uh taking a step of faith, fear can keep us from reconciling a relationship, fear can um uh fear can cause us to be afraid to start something that God puts on our heart. Um, fear can keep us from going first in apologizing, um, it can keep us from uh trusting God with our future, um with our children, with our grandchildren, um, with our retirement. Um fear has robbed so many people of things that God wanted them to experience. Um and I would say from fear and worry does the same thing. You know, worry drains our joy, worry uh seals our peace. Um worry consumes uh our mental energy. Um worry and fear, they're exhausting. Um I I've you know I've thought many times in in my own life, um, you know, fear has never helped me. Worry has never improved a situation. Um the anxiety that I've had and and even you know still fight, uh it has never solved the problem. Um you know, most of the time, friends, and and and you know this as as well, fear just keeps us circling in the desert over and over and over and over and over. Um uh there's something else that happens in in this story um of the 10 spies that that I think is also worth noting, and that is fear, um fear spreads quickly. One negative voice can influence a whole group. Um, our fearful perspective can dominate the conversation. Um, I've seen this happen in church uh board meetings where um where the church is trying to make um in a uh a decision and move forward, and one comment of fear can shut the whole thing down. Um I was in a meeting uh recently and uh we were moving ahead and it felt pretty good, and I felt like we were all on the same page, and one comment was made, and it felt like oh, we got to go all the way back to the very beginning because um that that one comment took us back. But the opposite is true as well, um, friends. Faith is contagious too. Um so fear is contagious, uh, worry is contagious, but faith is contagious as well. Um, remember the other two spies, Joshua and Caleb. Um they they saw the same giants, they saw the same cities, but their response was totally different. Um they said uh they said, yes, the enemies are big, but um God is bigger. And they trusted God's promise. And because they trusted God, they were the only two from that generation who eventually entered the land. Um so faith faith changes the way that we see obstacles. Faith um it doesn't deny reality, it simply puts reality into the context of who God is. So let me ask just a couple of questions of reflection as I as I wrap this up. Um what has fear what has fear kept you from? Is there a step of obedience that you might be avoiding? Is there a conversation that you've been postponing? Is there a calling that you've been resisting? Um the second second uh part of this uh with worry, um what what are the what are things that worry has robbed you from experience? I think in my own life, worry has robbed me of peace, worry has robbed me of uh uh sleep. I can I can tell you that one. Uh worry has robbed me of joy, uh, of of trust. Worry is incredibly expensive emotionally, and it it rarely produces value. Um I can't uh yeah, I just it it's just uh it just it just hurts. Um and uh I guess the other side of of these questions, because they're kind of reflecting on that part, but can you think of a time when you didn't let fear control you and you stepped out in faith? Uh maybe you took a risk or you trusted God with when the outcome was uncertain, you didn't know um how you were gonna make it, and you still trusted him. Um most people discover when they trust in God, something very powerful doesn't happen, or that happened that does happen. Courage, um, courage and trusting God doesn't mean that you won't have fear. Courage when you trust God, um courage happens when when you you're trusting in God more than uh than fear. So I have four things I want to say real quickly on how can you how can you keep from fear and worry conquering uh conquering this and keeping you wandering in the wilderness, real quickly. Remember who what who remember what God has done. Remember who He is. Um keep a journal, uh, talk about it. Um Moses is telling this story to strengthen the faith of this new generation. Second thing, focus on God's character. Um, fear thrives when we focus on circumstances, but faith grows when we focus on who God is. And you say, Oh, I try to do that, but you know, it's so hard sometimes. Here's number three limit the voices that you are amplifying. In other words, um, do not listen to other fearful voices, uh, other worry voices. Turn to the two faithful um uh spies and don't listen to the ten spies. We have to be careful in times uh of unknown and and things that when we're battling fear, we have to be careful that those voices um don't, negative voices don't shape our perspective. You probably have heard me say this before. If you want to soar like like eagles, you can't hang with the chickens, right? Um, and then lastly, act in obedience um even when you feel afraid. Um obey, obey, obey. Trust and obey, right? Um know that faith isn't a feeling. You might still have fear. Um faith isn't a feeling. Um our bodies tend to react in a fight or flight mode, or I guess uh freeze, uh freeze mode, uh fight mode, flight mode. But faith is a decision to trust God's character. You know, the Israelites stood on the edge of the promised land with a choice to trust God or trust their fear. They chose fear. And it and it cost them nearly four decades, 38 years of wandering and wandering in the wilderness. So instead, um instead, today, as you look at whatever situation you might be looking at, remember this story and remember the big and awesome God that he is, not how big the circumstance is, but how big your God is. Remember his faithfulness. And and when that fear whispers into your ear, oh, what if God doesn't come through this time? You can answer back with confidence. He has never forsaken me yet, and he never will. Hey, thanks for listening. I hope this has encouraged you to trust in your God who is faithful to you. It's always a joy to be able to spend this time. God bless you, and uh we'll see you soon. Thanks so much for listening to the Water's Edge Bible recap. I look forward every week to walking in the Word with you. You can find more information about Water's Edge Church at www.watersedge.faith. And you can listen to our weekly message on any platform under the Water's Edge website or by downloading the Water's Edge app.