Fear and Reservation - Deut 1

vv. 6-8
“The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long enough at this mountain.
'Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.
'See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers--to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--to give to them and their descendants after them.'”

vv. 29-31
“Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, or afraid of them.
'The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how 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.’”

Why is it that our natural tendency when approaching God’s plan for our lives is to hold back, to retreat, to reserve ourselves? Is it sin? I’m not sure.
You think about the faith of a child, willing to jump of roofs and stairs and slides into the arms of their fathers because they have no doubt they’ll be caught. But we grow up and start thinking about self preservation and our futures and begin tumbling down the rabbit hole of plans and preparation, having no guarantees save the false assurances we allot ourselves. We plan and execute, end of story, yet the word is clear that we are guaranteed nothing, and more than that we are commanded not to live like we do (James 4).
But we find a picture of ourselves in the hearts and actions of the Children of Israel in Deuteronomy.
I’ll agree that drawing an idea of fear from verse six is a stretch. The Children were being obedient to the Lord, who told them to stay at the mountain. “Long enough”, when I first read it, seemed to suggest that they remained there too long, they were tarrying, but the Hebrew word “rab” just means, “much, many, or great.” They just dwelt there for a long time. Okay, but we then come to verse 29 and find a theme that is embedded in all 34 chapters of the book...fear.
God tells them of His promises upon their Exodus decades prior. He has blessed them, saved them, performed miracles before them, and now He reminds them of the purposes and plans for them: “journey”, “go”, “possess”, “see.” The promise is before their eyes, they have every assurance that their God will be with them, He hasn’t let them down yet, but then we come to verse 29 and their true colors are found. We can’t blame them for being afraid. They weren’t a battle tested people, they were slaves. Even though God could see the victory before hand, they could find no reason why or how victory was possible.
They have to be reminded (vv. 30-31) that God is the moving part in this machine. He does the work but we get to be the instrument. The victory is won, it’s a done deal. Oh, but fear is crippling.
Deuteronomy is a fantastic picture of the human tendency to fear. We find that word fear is written 29 times in this book, afraid 13 times, and terrified, dread, and tremble another 8 times. God’s promises are sure but His methods are not always what we’d plan.
What then is the key to ridding ourselves from fear? Is it just faith? Is it remembrance? Moses seems to suggest that it’s a combination of both. Being reminded of God’s faithfulness is a spiritual dose of HGH (maybe SGH...Spirit Growth Hormone). It strengthens us to do what is necessary to let God control the situation and get out of His way. Sometimes it seems like an insurmountable summit to let go of a situation. The axiom rings true here that we MUST “let go and let God.” Sure, it’s not easy but then again it’s not supposed to be.
The Children of Israel would pay for their hesitation and God would not allow that generation to enter into the promise land. We glean from this that we too can unwittingly sacrifice God’s blessing for a momentary lapse of faith and a healthy fear of the Lord.
“The fear of man is a snare” but “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”