ANTICIPATING THE WORST
David Ivaska
WHEN YOU GO
TO WAR AGAINST YOUR ENEMIES and see horses and
chariots and
an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them,
because the LORD your
God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with
you. . . . The priest shall come
forward and address the army. . . . "Do not be
faint-hearted or afraid; do not be
terrified or give way to panic before them. For the
LORD your God is the one who
goes with you to fight for you against your enemies
to give you victory."
(Deuteronomy 20:1-4)
It is one thing to run into trouble in
the course of a day. But what about
those days when, before you even begin, you know you
are going to face
odds that are definitely against you and you will
need to take a very
unpopular course of action? What do you do? God's
instructions to Moses
regarding how to anticipate those fearful, dreadful
wars can guide us as
well. In what ways does having time to think about a
fearful situation
only increase your fear?
How did
God anticipate those feelings here when he said, "Do
not be
terrified or give way to panic"?
What past,
present and future assurance does God give Moses?
How would
each of those assurances help to diminish the fear
Moses and
the people are anticipating?
What do
you dread the most this week or
next?
What
difference would it make to know that God will fight
for you, as he
has in the past, until you see
victory?
All-knowing and unflappable God, you know
I often think the worst when I
anticipate a fearful situation. Change my attitude by
reminding me that
you go before me and fight beside
me.
Taken from
Be Not Afraid by David Ivaska. Copyright
©2002 by InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship/USA. Permission kindly granted to Faith
and Reason Forum by InterVarsity Press.
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