During times of battle, believers commonly find themselves to be underdogs. Faith, however, refuses to retreat and trusts God to overcome superior foes.
Although the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, some things cannot merely be undone. With or without forgiveness, sin has certain consequences.
Most people assume the Lord’s actions are motivated almost solely because of His love for man. Yet, God works for His own glory and for His own name’s sake.
Rebellion is identified in a variety of ways, but the Lord often associates it to someone with a stiff neck. Society should find this concept easily grasped. A stiff neck impedes the head from bowing. Moses directly associated the stiff neck with rebellion when he said, “For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck” (Deuteronomy 31:27). Like Moses, the Lord identified the rebellion of the children of Israel when He stated that they were “a stiffnecked people” (Exodus 32:9). Isaiah likewise attested to this truth by stating that rebellious people had a neck of iron sinew and a brow of brass (Isaiah 48:4). These descriptive terms demonstrate that rebellion is exemplified by an individual who refuses to bow and allow the mind to be changed. He has an unyielding spirit.
There are few sights and sounds like that of a majestically flowing river. For this reason, the Lord promised His people that they would have “been as a river” through simple obedience. This analogy using the river not only speaks of quality but also of quantity. Israel's obedience would bring a peace similar to the calming effect of a flowing river. This peace would also be quantitatively associated to the vast amounts of water which flow down a river. The Lord reaffirmed this truth when He said of Jerusalem, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river” (Isaiah 66:12). This peace too was dependent upon the obedience of the people of God. Unfortunately, for most people, life is more like the raging waves of the sea rather than the pristine flowing waters of a river. God in His grace desires to reward the obedient with peace like a river, but disobedience has its own set of unmanageable outcomes.
Yesterday’s study focused on the fact that courage involves strength of the heart. Our passage today reveals the first of sixteen times that the Bible uses the phrase “good courage.” Each instance reveals someone trying to encourage a fellow believer and demonstrates the need for a godly courage within the life of every believer. Moses’ words to the twelve spies being sent to search out the land of Canaan (the land promised to Israel by God) encouraged these men to be “of good courage” while stressing the importance of completing the task set before them. Moses knew that it would take “good courage” to fully follow the will of God since most of these men did not seem accustomed to showing courage in the face of overwhelming adversity. Courage must rely upon the power of God and not upon man’s wisdom or one’s own abilities.
