Deuteronomy 31:2 And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
Isn’t it amazing all the things we worry about today. We are reminded constantly by billboards and by television screens of all that we should worry about and what we should do. “Bring your dog in if it is cold!” “Buckle your kids up when you drive!” “Don’t smoke!” “Wear a mask!” I’m not arguing for or against any of these things. I am simply saying that we are preached to more often than we realize and we are told what to worry about.
What I’m saying is that it is amazing all the things we worry about and then all the things we don’t worry about. We wear masks, but fail to wash our hands, basic hygiene for any functional adult. We worry about flying and then drive recklessly. In short, we worry about the wrong things or we do not worry about things that we should be concerned about.
Worry is easy whenever there are times of change. That is where Israel was when they were coming into the new land of Canaan. God was going to give them a new leader, Joshua, and Israel needed an accurate estimation of what the true dangers were. Something you learn from Deuteronomy 31 is that seeing God accurately clarifies the issues of life. Now there are four or five different examples of this in Deuteronomy 31. Let me give you just one. What is the evil the children of Israel should have worried about? Was it the evil that would befall them or was it the evil that could be within them?
In verse 29 Moses says, “For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD.” Moses was saying, “A new leader is coming, but God will be with you. The real danger is not the danger from enemies, but the absence of God. The danger is not that God will leave you, but that you will leave God. The danger is not that you will be defeated by your enemies, but that you will be filled with pride.”
In each of these cases there was a worry that was natural to them and a real danger that was easily overlooked. They could worry about the evil that could befall them or worry about the evil that was within them. Moses was concerned about what would happen after his death. He was concerned about the evil that was within them, not the evil that would befall them.
Again, Moses said, “Evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD.” When they had victory and were filled, when they had known the presence of God and had victory, when Joshua had given them great leadership just as Moses had done before them, the danger was that they would waste their worry on the wrong things. They would be worried about famine, enemies, a new leader, and being defeated when the real danger all along was that they would leave God and that evil would be within them.
It is important to realize that there are dangers that we are very much aware of, and that may be as it should be. But, don’t forget the dangers that are easily ignored. Seeing God accurately, remembering who He is and what He has done for you in the past, will clarify the issues of life. It will help you to focus on what is most important and leave the things about which we worry in the hands of God.