Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Courage and Fear, part 1

A couple days ago I used a topical bible index to look up the words Courage and Fear. It was an older book so Fear redirected me to Cowardice, and I happen to like that alliteration. :)

So I copied the ones that stood out to me most into a list so that I have them to read/meditate on at will. Of course they came up in biblical order, so here's the one at the top of the list:

How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had given them up? Deut 32:30

I immediately loved the confidence, security, and assurance it gives, but a few days later I read the entire chapter.

The context of this verse is nothing like I thought it was. I expected it to be one of those situations where the Israelite people were terribly outnumbered and yet they succeeded. Instead, it is about the Lord contemplating destroying his people because of their disobedience and using their enemies to do so. But He decides not to because he doesn't want the enemies to get the wrong impression that it was their might that defeated the Israelites when really they could only win if the Lord were to hand the Israelites over! God is still in control and the Lord is still the one who gives victory, but this realization puts a completely different (or at least fuller) perspective on things. If anything, it kind of makes me feel more secure because even if I am disobedient, get myself into trouble, and make myself easy prey for my enemies, they still can't harm me without the Lord's hand being involved.

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