Fear and Discouragement Deut 1:21

Fear not neither be discouraged.



Moses is recounting the experiences of the children of Israel to them. They had come out of Egypt and the Lord brought them to the edge of the Promised Land and Moses told the people not to fear and not be discouraged for the Lord was ready to give them the land that He had promised them. Moses goes on to recount to them how they wanted to send spies into the land to see what the land was like. When the spies came back they brought with them some of the fruit in the land and a report that the land was indeed flowing with milk and honey. However, the land was occupied with strong men and well built cities and the advice of the spies was that they did not need to go in to take the land.

Moses told them that God was going to fight their battles and that they were failing to take God at His word and that was a dangerous thing to do. Of coarse we know the rest of the story. Joshua and Caleb came back with the spies and the said, "Lets do what God tells us to do." The people however did not listen to them nor did they listen to Moses and as a result they died in the wilderness and their children became the children of promise.

God is still telling us today, "Fear not and do not be discouraged." God wants to direct our lives and He wants to accomplish His purpose in and through our lives. God will accomplish His purpose; the real question is will we allow Him to do it in us or will we cause Him to go to someone else or another generation altogether.

The children of Israel feared that they would lose their lives if they tried to cross the Jordan and try to take the Promised Land. They feared that their lives would be in danger of they tried to fight against the enemies that already possessed the land. The people refused to go in and trust God and their greatest fear came true; they lost their lives in the wilderness.

The principle that I want us to think about today is simple; our greatest fear can become our destiny if we fail to overcome it. The only way to overcome fear is with faith and our faith is measured by our willingness to be obedient to do what God tells us to do. Every single aspect of our lives is controlled by the decisions that we make. We either choose to do things God's way or we do them our way. When we do things God's way, He is able to bless us. When we refuse to do things His way and we go our own way, we fall victim to the very thing that we fear the most.

Listen to Moses' admonition to the children of Israel, "Fear not and do not be discouraged." Fear and discouragement are the tools of the devil to rob you of the joy that God wants you to have. When fear and discouragement come on you, go to God in prayer and seek His guidance and His strength and make sure that you are obedient to His Word and see what God can do for you!