Scripture Daily

Context No. 3635 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 1:29-36: in context

29Then I said to you, “Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them. 30The LORD your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness where you have seen how that the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.” 32Yet in this thing you didn’t believe the LORD your God, 33who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in: in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. 34The LORD heard the voice of your words and was angry, and swore, saying, 35“Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers, 36except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his children, because he has wholly followed the LORD.”

Moses recalls his encouragement to a fearful Israel at the border of the land: do not be terrified; the LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did in Egypt, and as you saw in the wilderness, where the LORD carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way to this place.

What a tender image, God carrying his people the way a father carries his child. And yet, Moses says, in spite of all this you did not believe the LORD your God. They had seen him carry them the whole way, and still would not trust him for the very next step. That unbelief cost them the land; only Caleb, who wholly followed the LORD, would enter. There is a searching contrast here between God's proven faithfulness, carrying his people like a father, and the people's stubborn refusal to trust him even so. To have been carried the whole way and still refuse to believe is a grievous thing. It is wholehearted following, like Caleb's, that enters the promise.

Have I seen God carry me like a father through past difficulties, and does that lead me to trust him for what lies ahead, following him wholeheartedly as Caleb did?

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