The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’ Deuteronomy 33:27
Imagine standing at the edge of a foreign land God has commanded you to conquer. Though you were only a child or yet to be born when it happened, the failure of your parents or grandparents is known to everyone in the camp. After all, it was their decision not to take the land as commanded that forced you and your peers to wander in the wilderness the past forty years (Numbers 13-14). You have seen the consequences of rebelling against God on numerous occasions throughout your sojourn (Numbers 16:1-50; 20:1-13; 21:4-9; 25:1-18). In short, you are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
The land must be taken to fulfill God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning the nation to which you now belong as well as all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3; 26:3-5; 35:10-12; Deuteronomy 1:8). There is no one to which you may delegate the task at hand. It is yours to do. This is where the tension comes into play. You have heard the stories of the stature of the inhabitants of the land as well as the fortifications of their cities as first reported by ten of the twelve spies sent into the land forty years earlier. The descendants of these mighty men are the ones you must expel by force. They are organized and well-equipped. You are a wandering band of pilgrims, clearly outmanned and outclassed in military terms. Yet, you also know the consequences of rebellion against God regarding, so you must choose which danger you will face. The choice should be easy, but you are a spiritual being who lives in a physical body. You must resist the natural inclination towards self-preservation.
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus gave the answer saying, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” This was the choice for the children of Israel when standing at the borders of Canaan, and it is the choice for us in our service to God today. Though our challenges differ greatly, we still face situations that stir our hearts to fear. Thankfully, conquest has no part in Christianity, but this does not mean that the hearts we are trying to conquer for Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Matthew 10:34-39; 2 Timothy 3:12) will not be enraged by our efforts.
To succeed in this circumstance, we must remember the greater eternal reality that transcends the temporal difficulty (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The good news is that we have more than just fear of God to solidify our hearts, just as they did. The big issue with their failure to take the land was that they disbelieved (distrusted) God (Numbers 14:1-4; Hebrews 3:16-4:7). God gave them every reason to believe He would deliver the land to them (e.g. the ten plagues, parting the sea, conquering Og and Sihon, etc.), but they feared the Canaanites so greatly they questioned God’s intentions. Now their descendants must overcome the same challenge by trusting God’s promises to be with them and never leave them (cf. Deuteronomy 1:8; 31:7-8).
When we succumb to fear, it displays our distrust in Him as well, so we too must trust in Him (Hebrews 3:7-15). As was true of them, God has promised He will never leave us nor forsake us (Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 13:5). As with them, there is no one to whom we may delegate our task. Therefore, may we always recall Moses’ description of God near the end of his life: There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to help you…The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will thrust out the enemy from before you…” (Deuteronomy 33:26-27). Are you leaning on the everlasting arms?