Fear And Dismay
I’m in the waning chapters of Deuteronomy.
This has been an incredible journey this time. In ways, Deuteronomy has opened up to my understanding more so than ever before. There’s nothing new in there to read but … I’m “newer” than before. That’s the exciting part of growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)
Something grabbed me this morning in chapter 31. Perhaps it’s the COVID-19 days we’re living in that heightened my attention.
Here’s the passage.
7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.
8 And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
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Let me share with you the thought process that developed out of this.
Since God knew it was necessary for Moses to instruct His people to not fear or be dismayed, I conclude we need to hear it today too. We might want to think we’re not like those guys in the back of the Book but … WE ARE JUST LIKE THEM.
Nobody escapes times of fear and dismay. To tell ourselves it won’t happen to us is to fall into a subtle, well-placed trap by our adversary the Roaring Lion. After all, what person or animal isn’t at least a little fearful of lions, especially roaring lions?
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” I Peter 5:8
What I find interesting is the theme of fear and dismay is carried right over into the book of Joshua.
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1:9
“And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.” Joshua 8:1
“And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.” Joshua 10:25
So I think it’s fair to assume that if they needed this reminder, we do too. Perhaps even more so because we’ll never come close to experiencing the hand of God on such a visceral level like they did.
Think with me for a moment about these two enemies of our faith — fear and dismay.
I don’t believe they always hit us in tandem. I’m sure they do sometimes, but not always. Sometimes fear works by itself and sometimes dismay works by itself to reek havoc on our spiritual well-being. And I have a sneaky suspicion Satan knows us well enough to hit us with what is most effective at any given time.
How?
He observes us. He, just like the mighty lion, takes his time to learn his victim before he stalks and pounces.
Have you ever watched a cat sneak up on its prey? It’s a marvel to behold. We’ve had several cats over the years and we’ve been able to observe them methodically approach, pounce upon, and kill its victim. And most of the time, the poor critter wasn’t even aware until the last moment.
Or … as I think I mentioned in another blog.
I was out jogging one morning in Arizona. I was going up the road when I saw the biggest cat I had ever seen. I was amazed until … I realized it was a bobcat. He then looked at me for a moment but, he paid me no mind.
Why?
His intended prey, a jackrabbit, just ran away from him across the four lanes of the road and tried to hide under some scrubby little brush. The bobcat wasn’t deterred though. With a laser-like gaze, he fixated on that rabbit until he could dart across the road in attack mode.
And when he took off like a bolt of lightening, the poor rabbit was in the cat’s mouth before he could move a few feet. It was incredible to watch. I’d never seen anything move that fast and make a kill so quickly.
My point?
Satan has all the time in the world to learn about us, stalk us, focus on us and wait until it’s the right time to pounce. And pounce he will. And pounce he does.
He’s pouncing these days.
God’s people are experiencing a new kind of fear and dismay with this COVID-19 menace/harassment. I’m not minimizing it. But, I’m not so sure our response has been all that it should be.
What do I mean?
I fear we haven’t been availing ourselves of our God-infused biblical perspective and wisdom like we should.
Assuming there might be some accuracy in that statement, I’d like to suggest two things that will help us not succumb to our fears and dismay.
First: We need to know ourselves.
We need to know our strengths and our weaknesses. This will take a level of self-honesty that you might not be accustomed to or even like. But you need to take a good hard look at yourself through the lens of the Scriptures.
That’s what I’ve done during my present reading of Deuteronomy. I’ve seen myself in there more than I’d like to admit. We must let the Word of God do its penetrating work within us. And for it to do that we need TO BE IN IT — A LOT.
Second: We need to know our enemy.
Satan is a wily foe, for sure. But he’s not invincible.
Here are a couple of methods God has given to us.
#1 Resistance. Unlike the Borg’s favorite line in Star Trek: “Resistance Is Futile” — our resistance to Satan isn’t. Satan may want us to think that, but we don’t have to accept it.
Instead we’re instructed: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
#2 A sober minded steadfast faith.
We need to think soberly. What’s that mean? We need to think and act in accordance with the Word of God. It’s to shape every aspect of our very existence.
Along with that we are, with God’s help, to be developing a faith that will be steadfast — without fear or being dismayed. And the way we do that is by working on the things we’ve already assessed about our self along our journey of spiritual growth.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9
God has given us, in His Word, all the tactical advantage we need. It’s up to us to train ourselves to the level of competency that will keep us from being thrown into a tailspin when the next … whatever comes our way.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we don’t need to be overcome by fear and dismay like that jack rabbit when we sense Satan is on the prowl.
And … we don’t need to be mislead or overwhelmed by the heightened responses of the lost world around us.
Let me offer this point of reference for the inevitable future events we will encounter.
Remember:
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:3-6