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You may say to yourselves…(Deuteronomy 7:17-24)
The psalmist declared:
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
You are familiar with all my ways (Ps.139:1-4)
Oh how he knows us though. We cannot hide from him, though we often
try, but the psalmist reminds us:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
If I make my bed in the depths you are there…
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
And the light become night around me,"
Even the darkness will not be dark to you;
The night will shine like the day,
For darkness is light to you (vv 7-12)
He knows our every thought and fear and this is no better illustrated
than by this text. Forty years have passed since the Exodus and a new
generation is preparing to enter the land promised to their fathers.
God had dealt with Pharaoh by miracles before their very eyes. Yet he
knows them well and says, "You may say
to yourselves, 'These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive
them out?'"
What do you say to yourself? Do you say with the psalmist:
The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid…
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;
Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident (Ps.27)
Or do you, like the Israelites, consider the size of the problem, the
strength of the opposition? The God who knows us so very well gives
Israel the solution to our doubts and fears. We are to remember -
Who God is:
Know therefore that the LORD your God
is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand
generations of those who love him and keep his commands (v9)
What he has done:
But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did
to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials
the great trials, the miraculous sign and wonders, the mighty hand and
outstretched arm, with which the LORD brought you out (vv 18 - 19b)
And what he has promised:
The LORD your God will do the same to
all the peoples you now fear…Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD
your God who is among you, is a great and awesome God (vv19b - 20)
What do you know of God? What has he done and what has he promised you?
He says in his Word that our time would be well spent reminding ourselves
about these things. What do you have planed for this week?