Scripture Daily

Context No. 1688 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 7:17-26: in context

17If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” 18you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. 21You shall not be scared of them; for the LORD your God is among you, a great and awesome God. 22The LORD your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. 23But the LORD your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. 25You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. 26You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

Moses anticipates a fear Israel will feel on the edge of the promised land: these nations are more numerous than we are; how can we possibly dispossess them? Do not be afraid of them, he says; remember well what the LORD did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, the signs and wonders by which he brought you out. So will he do to the peoples you now fear. And he adds that God will drive them out little by little, not all at once, until they are gone.

Moses meets a very human fear, the fear of a challenge that looks too big. These nations are more than I; how can I overcome them? It is the feeling of facing something beyond our resources, an obstacle, an enemy, a task, so large that we cannot see how we could possibly prevail. And Moses does not answer by minimizing the challenge or by telling Israel to summon more confidence in themselves. He answers by pointing back: remember what God did to Egypt. Remember the deliverance you have already seen, the signs and wonders, the impossible thing God already did for you; the God who overthrew the great power of the age for your sake will not fail you now. The antidote to fear of what is too big is memory of what God has already done. And there is a second word: little by little. God would not drive out the nations all at once, but gradually, for their good, lest the emptied land be overrun; the victory would come in stages, not in a single day. This too speaks to us. When we face something overwhelming, God's help often comes not as one sweeping conquest but as steady, gradual progress, little by little, ground taken bit by bit. We would prefer the whole thing solved at once; God, who knows what we can bear, often works step by step. So when the challenge before us looks too big, the counsel of this passage is twofold: do not fear, but remember what God has already done for you, and trust him to bring the victory little by little, in his own steady way.

When I face something that seems too big for me, an obstacle or task beyond my resources, do I let its size fill me with fear, or can I do as Moses urged, remembering what God has already done for me, and trusting him to bring the victory little by little, in his own steady way rather than all at once?

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