Deuteronomy 20:1 When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt
What are your bad dreams? Maybe you don’t want to think or talk about that, but it doesn’t matter what you want because when you are asleep, you can’t really choose. When I have bad dreams, I dream about things like snakes or being on a cliff. Those dreams may be based on past experiences, but they really look to the future. They fear the future. The future is what we fear the most. Fear is not really a what, but a what if. It is a possibility. The future is what you fear.
In Deuteronomy 20:1 Moses says, “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Notice that what is in sight here is looking ahead and an enemy that is greater than the children of Israel. God is saying, “Look to God when you look ahead.”
What does God fear? That is a rhetorical question. God fears nothing. Would He fear chariots? You don’t even fear chariots. It is hard to have any emotional punch with this at all, because you think, “Who is afraid of a chariot?” In that day a chariot would have been one of the most powerful projections of power. Today you might think about nuclear weapons or missiles. Does God fear chariots? No. Does God fear missiles? No. The reason is God does not fear the future. God holds the future and owns the future. So, when these people looked ahead and saw enemies that were greater than they were, the question was not, “Are they greater than you?” The question was, “Are they greater than God?”
The word when is another instance of the certainty of the future that God was giving them. “When thou goest out to battle.” In the previous chapter he said, “When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee.” When, when, when. In verse 19 God says they should not cut down the fruit trees when they approached the enemy. Why would they think to do this? Even in Middle Tennessee in the Battle of Franklin, the opposing forces cut down trees, sharpened the ends, and put them in their earthen works as part of their defenses. Perhaps Israel would have been tempted to chop down trees to make their battering rams or something else, but God said, “Don’t chop down those trees. You are going to need them for food once the battle is over.” God was certain about their victory.
The point is to walk so closely to God that you only fear what God would fear. That is easy to say, but it is true. The question only remains, “What does it mean walking as closely to God as you can so you don’t need to fear anything God does not fear?” God was the one to lead them, feed them, fight for them, and protect them. When we are talking about walking closely to God, we are talking about being right with God.
Deuteronomy 19:9 says, “If thou shalt keep all these commandments do them…to love the LORD…and to walk ever in his ways.” How do you walk closely with God? You walk in His ways. It means to love God, fear God, obey God. These are not three separate things. They are the same thing in three different dimensions. If I am walking with God, I am right with God.
By the way, if I am walking with God I am going to be right with the leadership God has put in my life. Aaron and Miriam and Korah were wrong when they rebelled against the authority of Moses because when they rebelled against the authority of Moses, they were rebelling against God who placed Moses where he was.
In fact, many times I look at Deuteronomy and think, “Is this Moses speaking or God speaking?” Obviously, Moses was speaking for God. That is the point. Moses has been speaking for some time. You have to go back quite aways to where the Bible says, “Moses says…” The difference between what Moses was saying and the person for whom he was saying it is almost indistinguishable. I’ve got to be right with those in my life who are leaders if I am going to be right with God.
I also need to be right with others, my fellows. Deuteronomy 19:14 says that when you get to the new land, don’t remove your neighbor’s landmark. God has given you the land. Don’t take what God has given. Don’t remove what God has placed.
We don’t know the future which is why we tend to worry about it, but God isn’t worried or hurried. God knows and God is sufficient. So, look to God when you look ahead, and you will be in the right place.