Don't be scared.

"There are far, far better things ahead that any we leave behind" 

-C.S. Lewis 

It's funny that as I begin writing this blog post I remember that I've written about not being afraid before (in 2012!) and it was called : Avoid Fear?.

So, I was reading Deuteronomy in the Bible today and it spoke about a point where Moses is have a conversation with the Israelites whom he has been leading out of Egypt (where they were slaves) to a better land (flowing with milk and honey!) on God's command - for 40 years now(!) in the wilderness.

They've finally arrived to this promised land - that God is leading them to and Moses guides them as God leads him to: to go and take it. He tells them not to be afraid, because God was giving them this land.

But they're not sure, so they suggest they send up spies to inspect the land before they can fully occupy it. And Moses sent 12 spies to do exactly that. The spies inspected the land and they came back with the report that it was good!
But still they were too afraid to enter into the land still (except one guy Caleb).

This makes the Lord angry, and HE said that's it, you guys don't get to enter the Promise Land any more (including Moses!) - I will fulfill the promise through those people who did believe (Joshua and Caleb and children 'who do not know good from bad' whom they thought would be captive) and they would have to spend the rest of their lives in the wilderness!

The people feel terrible about this and realize that they need to do something and decide that the right thing to do would be to obey what God told them to do earlier and go and fight their enemies in their promised land.

But God tells Moses to tell the people now to not go and fight because He would not be with them- and they would be defeated.
They ignore His command (again) and choose to go and fight and were defeated. They come right back out of the land and spent the rest of their lives in the wilderness.

There are a lot key points that stood out to me from this one "summary chapter" of the last leg of the journey this generation of people were in.

• They spent at LOT of time in the wilderness, coming so close to the good land of blessing - but were hesitant and afraid to trust in God wholeheartedly and missed out on it. How terrible it is for me if I walk out on a great Exodus, taking step after step in wilderness and not continuing to trust in God till the very end - hoping that there is a light at the end of this tunnel.
  That He is good.
• That I value my own version of truth and my own version of 'doing the right thing' way more than valuing God Himself (who is the only way, truth , and life) and listening to Him in a relationship setting. The Israelites thought they were doing the right thing by doing what God had told them to do in the past - without taking into account what God was telling them RIGHT NOW - and that was to not go up. But the Bible calls this arrogance.
• They key message that I got from this was that it is not as important to do the thing you think is right as compared to what God is saying you should do right now - because God is the creator of the Universe and you are one of His creations.
• I guess it is easier to be a child and be humble (from this chapter it is clear that the children who do not know good from bad are given a lot more blessings materially.) But we need to remember that growing a few feet taller than we used to who we used to be does not change who He is in relation to who we are.
   I will always be a 'child of God' no matter how much I age or how much I learn !
• That I need to value God alone. More than any blessing. I get this so mixed up sometimes and value the creation more than the creator ( who could provide infinitely more anyway).

Honestly I can totally sympathize with the Israelites who think they know best, because I make these mistakes on a day to day basis. 

But by the grace of God I hope to change :) and this is my prayer for you too. 

Thank you for taking the time to read! 

Best 

-Jeffy