Neither Fear Ye the People
Numbers 14:9
The young boy loved to hear the preacher preach. When special preachers came to church he hung on their every word and later played the sermon over in his mind. He thought, “If I preached that, I would say it like this.” Then he would replay the whole sermon in his head before thousands of imagined hearers. Sure enough, in a few years he began to feel that maybe the Lord was calling him to preach. Then a problem came up. He was painfully shy. The thought of standing in front of people and actually saying something to them terrified him. He stuttered and stammered when he spoke to any adult. Yet, the persistent voice of God would not let him rest. Finally, in his bed late one evening he prayed, “Lord, if you want me to preach you must do it through me because I know that I will never be able to myself.” Peace came to his heart. That was all God wanted him to do.
In Numbers 14 the Children of Israel were facing a challenge to do the will of God. Moses was trying to get them to enter the land of Canaan. This was the land that God had promised to give them. Yet instead of moving in obedience they sent out spies to look over the land. Predictably, the spies came back with a negative report. “It’s too hard. The people are too much for us,” they complained. God understood their reservation. However, all He wanted for them to do was to surrender and He would do it through them. Joshua, one of the two spies to bring back a positive report, encouraged the people. “Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; . . . and the LORD is with us: fear them not.” (Numbers 14:9) Unfortunately, the people did not trust and they remained in the wilderness 40 more years.
That night the young boy gained victory. God gave him confidence and with training his speech improved. He went to college, learned to preach and the Lord has used him to touch many people through the years. When God chooses a person to do a task all He expects is for them to surrender. He enables that person for that task.We need not fear the will of God for us. All He expects from us is our obedience. He then lets us watch Him use us to accomplish that task.
The Lord is with us: fear not because He will do it through us.
Suggested Scripture reading Numbers 14
[podcast]https://lifeabovefear.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Neither-Fear-Ye-The-People.mp3[/podcast]
