Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Moses said, “Why now do you disobey the commandment of the LORD, since it shall not prosper?
Numbers 14:41 (emphasis added)

Wishy-washy believers. That’s the address right there. Believers who say no to the Lord, and then when the opportunity passes, double-down on yes. Thousands of years later, Jesus was still clarifying the point for humanity. “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’, Whatever is more than these is of the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). After He was resurrected, Jesus STILL was warning the early church believers (and us). “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Saying one thing and doing another. Saying no and then later changing your mind and trying to do what has passed you by. This is different from saying no, and later deciding to do the right thing. This is people choosing to rebel, and then choosing to rebel in a different way because they don’t like what happened to them the first time. Guess what? It gets WORSE!

This whole thing starts back in Numbers chapter 13. They had arrived at the borders of the Promised Land, the land of Canaan – filled with people who had rebelled against Yahweh God. Filled with people who were committing atrocities, were perverse in everything they did, and were so twisted in their immorality and going after idols that the very ground they were walking on was sick of their touch. Yahweh told Moses to send out men to spy out the land. Moses sent twelve men. Out they went. They went through the land. Back and forth. Saw the whole thing. Came back to report. Didn’t go well. Yes, they had oversized produce. Yes, they said it was a land of great things. But they had picked up fear.

I have no idea why, really. Think of the wonders they saw in Egypt. Those great and terrible things that shook that nation, changed its landscape, and killed its Pharaoh. Sent the nation into a tizzy of damage-control, renaming men, a sudden influx of slaves from another country, and a deep hatred for Semites. Then they went into the desert and saw the Lord on the mountain. They heard Him. The ground quaked. It scared them so bad they INSISTED Moses be the one to talk directly to God from then on. These were people who had SEEN some stuff. But they saw very tall, thick, and capable walls. They saw large, muscular men that were so impressive they recalled the giants of old (pre-flood). Almost all these men lost it. They felt that they were grasshoppers in comparison. They felt they couldn’t possibly scale those walls, defeat those people, or take that land. In fact, they moaned about why God brought them here in the first place. Brought us here just to kill us, they said. Just to see us fail, they said. Great big cosmic joke, I paraphrased.

We can do it, two men said. We can take the land. They’re not so big. God won’t fail us and if He is with us then we will succeed because there is no other possibility. Joshua and Caleb. They were the only ones who didn’t care about what they were SEEING, they cared only about what God had SAID. “Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it!”” (Numbers 13:30). But the rest of the spies complained. Verse 32 says they brought an evil report of the land. They said it was a land that chewed up people and spit them out. They did their negative nelly job so well that all the people moaned and whined and sat down in their tents and sobbed. Everyone blamed Moses and his brother Aaron. They decided that they needed a new leader – one to take them back to Egypt (that place they had been slaves). You know what sucks about slavery? The hours. You know what else? The pay. You know what else? The food. But that’s what they were looking back toward as the best time of their lives. A place where a single, racist, fearful leader killed dozens upon dozens of their children. This was the happiest place in the Middle East.

Joshua and Caleb AGAIN spoke to them. Again took God’s side. Again admonished them not to fear. Not to pick it up and dwell on it. “They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey. Only don’t rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don’t fear them”” (Numbers 14:7-9). What was the response of the people who were the children of God to this rousing, Godly speech? They prepared to stone them. They picked up rocks and told them to shut up or get thumped (verse 10a). But God didn’t let that happen. God showed up.
“Yahweh’s glory appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel” (verse 10b). God told Moses He’d had enough. That He was going to kill them all (God was looking for a mediator willing to intercede for the people). Moses interceded for the people. He stood on promises God had made. He stood on the principles and character of God. And God pardoned the people. But there were consequences for rebellion. They wouldn’t get in. Everyone except Joshua and Caleb who were of the age of majority was going to die in the desert while the rest of them waited to grow up and take the land. Moses told the people, and the people didn’t like that.

“Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly” (verse 39). First they were sobbing about not being able to take the land. They were sobbing because they wanted to go back to Egypt and the life of hard work, pain, suffering, and control THAT THEY KNEW. They didn’t want to step out into faith. They didn’t want to step out into trust. They picked up fear and decided that it was the excuse they needed to SAY we can’t do it. Now they’re complaining that God said they can’t do it. They can’t go in. He told them they COULD have done it but they rebelled and now they CANNOT do it. That they WOULD NOT do it. That they were going to be stuck in the desert until it was over for them. They didn’t want to do what they had been empowered to do. But they didn’t like the consequences of their rebellion.
I’m betting that Adam didn’t like the consequence of HIS rebellion either. We have eighty-five verses in scripture that cover the time period of Adam’s life. He isn’t in at least twenty-three of them. That is not a lot of space to record a life of nine hundred and thirty years. There was a lot left out. All the important things were recorded – important for the record to our benefit anyway. Do you know what is NOT in ANY of those eighty-five verses? Repentance. Adam got caught. Adam was sad. Adam was ashamed. Adam tried to shift blame. Adam moved to where he had to as he lost the blessing. But Adam never ONCE said sorry, I’m wrong, I repent. He did not – as far as we know – make things right with God. I’d like to think he did at some point, and I don’t know if he did or not. But I do know this: The Israelites were the exact same way. They were sad. They were ashamed. They were sorrowful. They did NOT repent.

They woke up in the morning and decided that they could take the land. “They rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Behold, we are here, and will go up to the place which Yahweh has promised; for we have sinned”” (verse 40). They admitted sin, but did NOT repent. Moses warned them not to go (today’s verse). He went further and told them they were going to be defeated if they went because the Lord was not with them (Verse 43). They went anyway. But Moses did not go. The ark of Yahweh’s covenant did not go. The Lord was not with them. The Lord did not approve. This was a BAD idea. But they went. Got their swords handed to them. “But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain. Nevertheless, the ark of Yahweh’s covenant and Moses didn’t depart out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.” That is a sound thrashing. God’s chosen people were defeated. They were defeated because they didn’t listen to the Lord. He wasn’t cagey. He wasn’t mysterious. He told them flat out through His prophet Moses DO NOT GO UP. But they disobeyed. For the second time.

Maybe this more than anything else with these people shows their unrepentant hearts. They got sorry. They felt bad for their situation. They expressed grief and anger over what their punishment was. But they doubled down on disobedience. The first time they said they couldn’t do it. The second time they said they’d do it themselves. Neither of these was a good thing. The first time God said you can do it – they disagreed and rebelled. The second time God said you cannot do it – they disagreed and rebelled. They walked in disobedience, they spoke disobedience, they acted in disobedience. These people were stiff-necked and disobedient – Exodus 32:9, 33:3&5, 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6 & 13, 10:16, 31:27, 2 Kings 17:14; 2 Chronicles 30:8, 36:13; Nehemiah 9:17 & 29; Psalm 78:8; Jeremiah 7:26, 9:15; Acts 7:51. Seeing a trend?

Disobedience can be as simple as going right when the Lord says left, moving when He says stand, and disregarding or ignoring a commandment in the Word that He clearly wants us to follow. But that is not all. It is refusing to listen. It is doubling-down on your belief system – regardless of what the Word says. It is hearing TRUTH and not HEARING it. It is operating with our human nature instead of with our heavenly nature. It is standing outside of the shadow of the wings of the Lord (Psalm 91:4, 17:8; Deuteronomy 32:11). A stiff-necked person is limiting their actions and reactions. They are making choices contrary to the Lord. They are not free to do right anymore because they need to REPENT before they can once again choose to please the Lord – like the son of the Prodigal (Luke 15:11-32).

Objects in this world cast a shadow, right? Get under a big tree and its shadow will protect you from the scorching heat of the sun. Spiritually, the Word casts a shadow. We are to fit and conform our word, thoughts, and actions – our lives – to match the shape of the shelter to remain under it. We don’t pervert and bend the Word to fit what we want. We submit to what we find and change our lives to match. It is not restricting. It is life-saving freedom from the elements of the curse (Deuteronomy 28:1-68). “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

We hear and know His voice (John 10:27-28). Jesus PROMISED us He would send the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). Paul confirmed that we DO have the Holy Spirit living inside us (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The Holy Spirit will guide you and speak to you. You will RECOGNISE His voice. It is something that is TRUE. The WORD says it. It is hard to explain – if it can be at all – because this is Spirit, this is supernatural, and this is divine. But it is real and you can have REAL conversation and guidance with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the yoke that attaches us to Jesus under the driving of the Father. We become a team with the Lord – if we abide in Him, submitting to His will and His correction. We move WHEN He says, WHERE He says, HOW He says, and to WHOM He says. No exceptions. We obey and submit. We stand on the Word. Jesus does the Work. The Holy Spirit manifests the miracles. It is the Lord 110% of the way. Not us, Him. Not us, Jesus. Not us, the Father. Not us, the Lord God Almighty whom we worship, praise, and bow before. When we do that, the Lord will be with us. The Lord will set His Word to prosper and accomplish what He sent it out to do. It will not fail because He doesn’t fail (Jeremiah 1:12).

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 1 Peter 2:9

We are a chosen people. Chosen to be HIS children, HIS nation, HIS possession, and HIS priesthood. In Christ Jesus, we gentiles are grafted into the Abrahamic bloodline so that we too can be children of God (Galatians 3:28-29). We have the right to proclaim the excellence of the Lord. Part of that excellence is the Word – which is as much God as all the other parts of God because Jesus IS the Word (John 1:1 & 14). This Word has imprisoned ALL THINGS under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Galatians 3:22, emphasis mine). If it is in the Word and it agrees with the Lord, you can have it. Submit to GOD, and stand on the Word. It will change your life. It will change how you think about your life. It will change how you SPEAK about your life. Don’t agree with negative things. Put a watch on your tongue. Declare the Word. Agree with the Word. When we do this, we are not declaring the Word OVER our life. We’re decreeing our life UNDER THE WORD. Submitted to Yahweh God, standing on what HE said. Not us, HIM. We’re just agreeing with HIM. Test all things, hold to the truth (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and speak the truth. Declare yourself under that Word (Job 22:28). Let the Word shine on ALL your ways and see what the Lord sees in you. Walk in the light of THAT and nothing can hold you back because you are only speaking the LORD’S WORD (Luke 1:37). “Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “None of my words will be deferred any more, but the word which I speak will be performed,” says the Lord Yahweh.’” (Ezekiel 12:28).

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.