Do Not Fear or Be Discouraged

Jesus, mighty name, good morning everybody! It's good to see you here. We didn't know if anybody would show up today. While you're standing, would you take out your Bibles and open them with me to the book of Deuteronomy? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one.

Hey Mark, can you give me a water bottle? We are in Deuteronomy chapter 1 this morning, and we're going to read where we left off last week, beginning at verse 19. While we are gathered here, we do have a whole bunch of people who are also joining us online, so that is wonderful.

Alright, Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 19: "So we departed from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea, and I said to you, 'You've come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear or be discouraged.'"

Father, we do bless you today as we gather together. We pray, God, that you would help us to apply those last words of verse 21, that we would not be afraid or discouraged. There are so many things that could weigh on us at this time. I pray, God, that even as Garrett was mentioning during announcements, Lord, that the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace—would be a part of our lives. Let that peace be upon us in abundance. Your word says that we are to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to you, and your peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. I pray for that today for us who are gathered here and for those who are watching online. Lord, make it so clear in the lives of Your people that we have that peace, and that it would draw other people who don't know You to come to know You. We ask this today in Jesus' name. And all those who agreed said, "Amen."

You may be seated. I am glad to see you here this morning. I have to admit it is a little bit ironic that last week I shared in our message, if you were here, that we are contemplating and praying about potentially adding a fourth service because things were getting kind of crowded. Well, at the moment, we clearly don't need that, so that's on hold, as are many other things in our culture at the moment.

It is a little bit strange. I had planned to talk about one thing out of Deuteronomy chapter one this week, specifically about consequential decisions. I will talk briefly about that today, but I'm going to shift a little bit in what I'm going to discuss. We will stay in Deuteronomy chapter one because, as you hopefully saw when I read from that passage, it actually has some important words for us to think about, meditate upon, and set our hearts towards or against.

It is also a real blessing to have the technology available to us, effectively for free. We already have cameras and an internet connection, and just to be able to broadcast it live online is a true blessing, especially since there are many churches in our area that are closed today. We are one of the few that decided to gather together. I was kind of wondering whether anyone was going to show up today, so thank you for being here.

My wife, who works in the ICU, kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to have a service because she didn't think anyone would show up. But you all showed up, so yes, amen! And you get the doughnuts because we do have them. For those of you who are watching online, you can have a virtual emoji doughnut, but I promise you, they don't taste as good.

I don't know about you, but this week has felt almost like we are living in the midst of a movie. The word that describes it best is "surreal." It is very bizarre, and I kind of feel like at any moment...

Smith is going to show up and save the world, and everything will be just fine. It is really strange, all the things that are going on. In some ways, it can be a little disorienting, especially because of the amount of information that is flying at us constantly. This information is oftentimes incomplete, not always right, and sometimes contradictory. I find myself trying to figure out who to believe and what to believe.

You get one thing as a tweet that's sent out, and then you get another thing that's sent out as an email. Other things show up in the news, and it's just chaos on social media everywhere you look. As I was looking at all of this a couple of days ago, I was reminded of a story. I'm not entirely sure if it was originally penned by Max Lucado, who is a pastor out of Texas, but I do know that that's where I originally read it—in a little small book, a pamphlet that Max Lucado had put out called "The Woodcutter's Wisdom." If you've never read it, it's a neat little story.

I actually went on Amazon to see if I could get that little booklet, and they had a used one for $99. I thought, "Yeah, I'm not going to spend $99 on 'The Woodcutter's Wisdom,'" so I found a PDF online for free.

The story of the woodcutter is about an old woodcutter who lived in a village. He was very poor, and his most prized possession was this horse, which was very valuable. So much so that everybody in his village would constantly tell him, "If you just sell that horse, you could make so much money, and you could probably stop working." But he would respond, "How could I sell a member of my family?" This horse was the most important treasure to him.

Then one day, he woke up to find that the horse was gone. All the people in the village said, "You fool! You should have sold it, because now robbers have come and taken your horse." In response, he said, "Listen, I don't know if that's true or not. All I know is my horse is gone."

A couple of weeks went by in the story, and his horse showed back up. It had not been stolen; it had run off. When it returned, it came back with six wild horses. Now all the other village people were saying, "Oh, you're so blessed! Look how wonderful this is! Now you have these new horses." He replied, "Listen, I don't know if that's true or not. All I know is my horse is back, and I've got some other horses."

Then the following day, his son, his only son, went out to train one of these wild horses. While he was trying to break it, he got bucked off and fell, breaking his leg.

All the villagers come and say, "Oh, it's so pitiful! Look, you're cursed, and your son, your only son who helps you with all the stuff, now he's hurt and he can't do anything." All I know is that the horse bucked my son off, and now he's got a broken leg.

Then, the following day, these robbers come through and invade the town. They take everything from everybody and then run off. The sons of all the villagers are going to rise up and go in a war party after them, but his son can't go because he has a broken leg. All the people say, "Oh, you're so blessed." This goes on and on. He keeps saying, "All I know is..." and he's just simply looking at what's right in front of him.

I was thinking about that the other day. In all of the competing information that is coming at us, I find myself thinking, "Well, listen, all I know is that there is a virus that has caused the complete halt of everything going on in our super hyper-busy culture." How many of you oftentimes feel very busy? Not anymore! Everything just got put on Sabbath.

We had a question on the Questions Podcast: "Should we follow Sabbath?" Well, whether you do or not, now you are. School is on pause for the kids. My kids are very happy about that; the parents, not so much. They were really discouraged when I told them, "You do realize that you're probably going to have to make this time up." If you miss a month of school, they're probably going to add on some more time in the summer. They were very discouraged at that whole thing.

Professional sports are basically on pause or canceled. The Astros' season is postponed, Major League Baseball is potentially deferring the start of the season, and the NBA is basically halted. The NCAA March Madness is on pause or maybe playing before nobody in the room. It's just really kind of strange. Disneyland is closed. I mean, things have gotten pretty bad when Disneyland has closed.

The world economy is effectively at a standstill. If you are a toilet paper producer, you are happier than you've ever been right now. They've been looking for things for years: "How can we market toilet paper more effectively? Let's make it softer, let's make it cushier, let's make it two-ply, let's make it quilted." Now, let's just have a virus that scares everybody half to death, and so they have to run out and get as much as they can.

I hate to break it to you, but toilet paper is not going to protect you from COVID-19. You would think that people might realize that it won't.

Unfortunately, the other day we actually did run out of toilet paper. My wife said, "You need to go fix this up," and I thought, "You've got to be kidding me." It was chaos. I had to go to Costco on Friday because I had an already scheduled eye exam. The eye exam place was insane. I was very thankful that I didn't have to wait in line for anything, and I was hoping the entire time I was there that Andrea would not send me a text asking me to pick something up. When I looked at the line, it was like an hour-long wait just to get to a checkout stand. It was crazy.

All I know is that a lot of people are super fearful, and maybe you are among those who are fearful. All of a sudden, your kids are out of school for a month, and you've got work. You're not entirely sure what you're going to do to take care of your kids. You might be fearful because your 401(k), if you have one, lost like 40% in the last 20 days. It will come back; don't sell. You might be fearful because maybe your employer had a whole bunch of overtime planned because everything was so busy, and then your employer said, "Hey, don't come in on Monday because I don't have anything for you right now."

You could also be the employer looking at all this and thinking, "Well, we can handle this for a week or two, but a month or two? I don't know how we're going to be able to handle that." You might be fearful because you or someone close to you is among those considered vulnerable in our population as it relates to this virus. This virus can seem pretty far away from us at the moment because maybe you don't know anybody who actually has it.

I was talking with Ryan a little bit during the service, and he made the comment that while it doesn't affect him personally, it affects us all because of everything that's going on. As I mentioned, my wife works in the ICU, and she is in the ICU right now. They do have patients there that they are dealing with who have this virus, so it is a reality and a problem. We will only be able to wait and see how much of a problem it is.

Until then, it's kind of like Sabbath time, and everything slows down in a big way. It's been a long time since everything was basically closed on Sunday in America, and now all of a sudden, Kanye's words have come to pass: "Closed on Sunday." Except for Cross Connection Church, we're here, and we have donuts.

So many of these things that people are concerned about and fearful about are perfectly logical. It makes sense; it's understandable.

Of like a cascading waterfall of uncertainties, amidst the fear-inducing and somewhat disorienting uncertainties, I want to remind you of some important truths. Point number one in your outline: we trust in God, who stands above all of the things that bring fear, uncertainty, and discouragement. This is a very important truth for us to remind ourselves of, and maybe to speak to ourselves. Even in our minds, we should remind ourselves, "I trust in a God who stands above all of the things that bring fear, uncertainty, and discouragement."

I say that we may need to speak this to ourselves because that's one of the things that we learn from the Psalms. Psalm 46 comes to mind. Psalm 46 was written by King David three thousand years ago during a time when he was going through a tumultuous situation. It was one of those situations, and maybe you've experienced this, where you are in the surf and you're getting battered by the waves that just keep crashing on you. He talks about it like that; it's as if all of your waves are crashing over him. He says in Psalm 46, "Hope in God." He actually says to his soul, "Soul, hope in God. I will yet praise you."

He has to remind himself to trust in God, and I think that sometimes we need to remind ourselves to trust in God and to remind ourselves who it is that we are trusting in. He is the God who stands above all the things that bring fear, uncertainty, and discouragement. This is one of the truths that comes out in this passage here in Deuteronomy chapter 1, and it is an encouraging reminder for any person facing troubling circumstances.

It is very typical on a weekly basis when we gather together here for worship and study through the Scriptures on a Sunday that there are some people who are going through challenging, trying, tumultuous circumstances. Sometimes, there are a couple dozen people here who give us a prayer request. This is what is pressing upon me: I just got something flagged in a test at the doctor, and we don't know what it means, or I just got word that I don't have a job. Whatever it may be, at any given time, there are people experiencing difficult circumstances. It is very rare, in fact incredibly unique, that all of us would be experiencing the same challenges.

Something is happening at the same exact time, but I do think that it is highly likely we are feeling a little bit troubled by the things that are happening in our nation at the moment. Among the missed truths, half-truths, untruths, and distortions of truth that are swirling like crazy right now, I want to offer some words of truth that we find in Scripture. These words might help strengthen our hearts.

In the very passage of the Bible where Jesus reveals Himself to be the embodiment of truth, we find a familiar verse. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." In that same passage, where Jesus reveals Himself as the embodiment of truth, He begins with these words in John 14:1: "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; you believe also in Christ."

These words are so very important. There are two verbs in those opening words of John chapter 14 that are used three times. The first one is "let not your heart be troubled." Don't be troubled. It's actually a command. When you look at it in the original language, it's in the imperative form, so it is a command: do not be troubled.

There are times when you and I are facing troubling circumstances, just as Jesus's disciples were when He spoke those words to them. To give someone the command "don't be troubled" in that moment is almost completely ineffective. I've used the example before, and I think it's a good illustration because it helps to see it. Imagine for a moment that you're driving on the freeway, going the speed limit—because all of you do that perfectly—and you're surrounded by cars. Everything is moving really quickly, and about a hundred feet in front of you, a tire comes bouncing out of the back of a truck.

In that moment, something is triggered in your body; the limbic system activates, and you experience a response. Now, in that moment, you could rationally say to yourself, "I will not be troubled." However, that thought will not work.

In that moment, there is a dump of adrenaline that can take at least 30 minutes to calm down and to deaden. However, here Jesus says to His troubled disciples, "Do not be troubled. I command you, do not be troubled." There are other places in Scripture where we have a similar command. I think of Philippians chapter 4, where Paul commands, "Do not be anxious."

What that means is that all of us, including myself, are really good at breaking those two commands of Jesus and Paul. The command "do not be troubled" is really pointless without the other part of the verse: "Let not your heart be troubled." Why? Because you believe in God, and you believe in Jesus. He says, "You believe in God; you believe also in Me." Because we believe in God and have trust and hope in Christ, we have the ability to fulfill the command "do not be troubled."

Point number two in the outline: trust in God is the remedy for a troubled heart. I have learned this by experience. I have learned that Paul's words in Philippians 4 are true: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

When we reorient our focus, especially when we are bombarded by all kinds of information from Facebook, the news, Twitter, or even from the person we are talking to in the checkout line who is telling us all kinds of things that are freaking us out, we need to do what Colossians 3 exhorts us to do. We need to set our minds on things above, to reorient our focus, and to remind ourselves to trust in God. We must fix our attention, our perspective, our thoughts, and our hearts on Him. The promise is that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Now, the phrase "let not your heart be troubled" contains an interesting word. The word "troubled" means shaken together, stirred up, disturbed, unsettled, and thrown into confusion. Does that describe any of your feelings in the last 96 hours?

Hours later, I felt shaken up, disturbed, unsettled, and thrown into confusion. If you're feeling that way, I can completely understand because of all the outside things that are coming at us. Jesus is the answer for us in the midst of trouble. When we are unsettled and our hearts are stirred up, we are called to trust.

That word "trust" is presently and actively in the moment. We need to actively reorient and refocus our hope, trust, and faith back to the Lord. The object of our trust is the important thing here. I'm sure you've heard people say before, "Have faith." But have faith in what? Trust in what? If your trust is in the President, the Vice President, Congress, the stock market, the World Health Organization, or the CDC, you're probably going to be troubled, distressed, and thrown into confusion.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that we shouldn't expect those in positions of leadership to do everything they possibly can to address these issues as best as they can. However, our hope is not ultimately in them, and our trust is not ultimately in them. We need to reorient our focus and our trust.

This is not meant to be political, though it will likely come across that way. I was a little discouraged a couple of weeks ago when I saw something show up on news feeds. Of course, you know that our President had appointed the Vice President, Mike Pence, to oversee the federal task force dealing with the coronavirus. Then, there was a picture released from the Vice President's office of their first gathering for a meeting.

In the picture, Mike Pence is leading the task force in prayer. As a pastor, I like that; it doesn't discourage me. What discourages me is the response. This next picture came from Tom Williams, who writes for The New York Times Magazine. He says, "Mike Pence and his coronavirus emergency team praying."

For a solution, we are so screwed. Then there's 20,000 people who like it, and a whole bunch of people who retweet it. It shows up in the news. I happen to think it's a good thing when those in the halls of power, who are tasked with dealing with these things, stop for a moment. Even if it takes 36 seconds, a minute, maybe three tops, they should stop and say, "Hey, can we just for a moment pray?"

Not that we're not going to listen to the experts, reach out to scientists, and try to deal with the medical community to develop a vaccine or come up with plans to get people toilet paper. We could do all that, but for just maybe a second, just a moment to stop and pray, I think that's actually a good thing. Eventually, and we're all looking forward to this, coronavirus will be in the rearview mirror, and it'll be a memory.

But right next to the memory of coronavirus, because every single one of us will encounter other trials and circumstances that press in on us, maybe put in your memory the 3,000-year-old words of a wise king when he said, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

In all your ways acknowledge Him. At the very least, that's what that group of people in that office right next door to the White House were doing. They were at least, in all their ways, acknowledging God. We could use Your wisdom in this situation. Your political positions and opinions about the current administration aside, I think it's a good thing when people in the halls of power take time to pray.

Now, that's the long way around to get to Deuteronomy chapter 1. Here in this passage, we find another leader, Moses, who is standing before another nation, the children of Israel, who are facing a challenge. Thirty-four hundred years ago, God had called this man Moses to go down to Egypt to bring God's people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt after they had been there for some four hundred years. Much of the time that they had been there, they had been in bondage as slaves to Egypt. Ultimately, through a series of God's actions...

Through plagues, the children of Israel were released, and they came out of Egypt. They headed toward the Promised Land; however, before they reached it, God had a plan for them to come to a place called Mount Sinai. Some passages call it Mount Horeb, while others refer to it as the mountain of God. They remained there for two years, and during that time, God gave them the law, and they established the tabernacle and the priesthood.

After two years, God said, "Alright, now it's time to leave. We're not staying here at Mount Sinai forever; we're going to the land that I promised to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—a land flowing with milk and honey. You're going to go up and possess that land." They took an eleven-day journey from Mount Sinai to the border of blessing, the border of the Promised Land, in a place called Kadesh Barnea. Today, this location is in the southern part of the nation of Israel, in the Negev desert.

They arrived at Kadesh Barnea, and this is where Moses is revisiting the story 38 years later. Deuteronomy chapter 1 takes place 38 years after they had come to Kadesh Barnea. Moses is now sharing with the same group of people, although it is their children and grandchildren. The children of Israel are getting ready to enter the Promised Land. Although they had stood at the border of blessing to enter the Promised Land thirty-eight years prior to Deuteronomy chapter 1, they did not come into the land.

Moses reminds them of what happened and recounts how they came to the Promised Land thirty-eight years ago. He spoke to their parents and grandparents, saying, "Look, Deuteronomy 1:21: The Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear or be discouraged."

If you were here last week, I said to underline those words in your Bible, but some of you were disobedient and didn’t do it. So, underline those words: "Do not fear or be discouraged." You had no idea when I told you that last week how important those words would be for you this week, but you forgot it and became fearful. All joking aside, it's important for us to think about those words. God commanded Israel to possess their promised possession, and He commanded them to be courageous and bold.

Going up to lay hold of this land, how could they be courageous and bold? They were about to enter the promised land, even though doing so would mean facing challenges, hardships, battles, and war. How could they be courageous in the face of enemies who already had strongholds, who had been in the land for a long time, and who knew the land? They could be courageous and bold by trusting in God, who had promised the land to them.

In Deuteronomy 1:21, it states, "You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us." They could be courageous and bold in going to the land because God said, "I’m giving you this land. I’m with you. It’s your land. I’ve given it to you. Go up and possess it, and do not fear or be discouraged."

What did they do thirty-eight years prior? How did they respond? In verse 22, it says, "And every one of you came near to me and said, 'Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up and the cities into which we shall come.'"

Several weeks ago, we discussed how, when the children of Israel were still at Mount Sinai, God had called them to set up a leadership structure. They would have leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Moses was not a dictator; he was not the totalitarian guide telling everybody exactly what to do. He was at the top of a hierarchy, with God above him and these leaders under him.

As they came to the edge of the promised land, those leaders approached Moses and said, "Listen, we think that we should send some people into the land to spy it out." Moses, in verse 23, says, "The plan pleased me." So, I took twelve of your men—some of those leaders who were over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. I took twelve of your men, one from every tribe, and they departed.

They went into the mountains and came to the valley of Eshcol, which is in the northern part of the nation of Israel. They went into it, spied it out, and took some of the fruit of the land in their hands. They brought it down to us and said, "It is a good land which the Lord God is giving to us." This account is recorded in the Book of Numbers.

For forty days, these spies went in and out of the land, taking in the whole breadth of it. They came back with a huge bunch of grapes to share with the people, showcasing the fruitfulness of the land. They said it is a good land that God is giving to us. Nevertheless, in verse 26, I hear in my mind a "dun-dun-dun." There's always a nevertheless. There is this great blessing before you, but you would not go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You complained in your tents, saying, "Because the Lord hates us."

What? Because the Lord hates us? He brought us out of the land of Egypt? Those things don't go together. God delivered us from bondage in Egypt because He hates us? He delivered us out of bondage in Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? These things don't go together, but this is where thinking goes when you're troubled.

Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying the people are greater and taller than we. Their cities are great and fortified up to heaven. Moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. What are the sons of the Anakim? Giants. Giants in the land.

Just like Israel, we are torn by trying circumstances in our lives that tempt us to be terrified, to be discouraged, to lose trust in God. Listen, when you encounter trying circumstances like Israel did 3,400 years ago, when they heard the report that there were giants in the land and fortified cities with strongholds, trusting in God sounds like foolishness in the midst of that. It just seems absurd for someone to say, "Have faith, trust in the Lord." There is a part in our minds that goes, "Yeah, I know, but this is real. This is a real physical obstacle. This is a challenge." Faith in God seems...

It is completely insane and absurd when you're faced with real trials. Now, it's interesting to me because, in our day, modern people, shall I say, have a tendency to look back on ancient peoples, like the children of Israel who lived 3,400 years ago. We think of them as archaic, old, superstitious people. We give them a lot of criticism, sorry for the expression, but it's the best way of saying it. We think, "Oh, those superstitious people who lived so long ago had just a Pollyanna-ish sort of trust in a fairy God who would come down and help them." We see them as foolish and stupid.

The fact is, they didn't have very much trust because they were a lot more like you and me than we give them credit for. You see, when they were confronted with challenges, they didn't just say, "Oh, it's okay; everything will be fine because God will come and take care of it." No, they freaked out, and they got discouraged. They didn't actually trust in God.

In Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 29, Moses reminds the people of his day what he said to their parents and grandparents 38 years before: "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. Remember what He has done for you in the past, before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son, all the way that He went until you came to this place."

Yet, for all this, you did not believe the Lord your God, who went in the way before you to search out the place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day. Israel was a lot like us 3,400 years ago. When confronted with challenging circumstances, their immediate response or reaction was not to trust in the Lord, believing He would fight for them.

There were some people, like Moses and a couple of others, Joshua and Caleb, who spoke up and said, "Listen, God will fight for us. We need to go up into the land." But those words, the words of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, must have sounded completely foolish to them. In fact, when they heard Joshua and Caleb say to them, "Do not fear for the people of the land," they were met with skepticism.

Like bread to us, God is going to give them into our hand. Their protection has fled. They probably tweeted right there, "We are so screwed."

Point number 300 in the outline: trying circumstances and discouraging reports trouble our hearts and test our faith. That's what Israel faced 3,400 years ago at Kadesh Barnea. Trying circumstances—that's what we're facing right now. Uncertainties and discouraging reports surround us. There was a group of eyewitnesses who had seen the problem: fortified cities and giants. They came back with a report; ten of them gave the same message: the land is perfect, but they provided a discouraging report.

In the midst of trying circumstances, we receive discouraging reports, and we often don't know what to believe. Information is constantly flying at us. I don't watch a lot of news; I don't have cable. However, I clicked on a YouTube video that was a 16-minute segment from ABC News that aired during their regular 6:00 p.m. news. If that was all I had to go on, I would probably run to the hills and wouldn't be here today. It was frightening. I have to remind myself that they are in the business of making money, and they profit when a lot of people tune in to watch the entire segment and the commercials. So, they have to make it as alarming as possible, and they did a great job.

Trying circumstances are expected in a broken and fallen world. We will face difficult situations. It's very rare that we all face one together at the same time. Just think of the last hundred years: when have there been trying circumstances that touched a very large segment of the world? Consider the First World War and the Second World War, along with all the events surrounding those conflicts. Think of how impactful 9/11 was. There are trying circumstances, but we can all be certain that we will experience trying circumstances after COVID-19.

You'll go through difficult, challenging things: the loss of a job, the loss of a loved one, the loss of your own health. We go through those things, so trying circumstances are expected. But discouraging reports—where did that come from?

The discouraging reports in this passage came from the very leaders that the people selected for themselves. They had chosen leaders to be leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens. They were to choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men. Verse 13 of Deuteronomy chapter one says, "I will make them heads over you." That's where these reports came from.

If you want leaders who will lead wisely when faced with challenging circumstances, they need to have the right wisdom in those situations. You need to make sure that you do a good job of choosing those leaders because their reports will lead to very consequential decisions. In this case, with the children of Israel 3,400 years ago, the consequential decision led them into the wilderness for 38 years, and so they were discouraged. You can read the full story in Numbers chapters 13 and 14.

Deuteronomy 1:34 says, "And the Lord heard the sound of your words and was angry and took an oath, saying, 'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good of the land which I swore to give to their fathers. None of you are going into the land.'" God said that; that's pretty heavy.

Consequential decisions were made, except for Caleb. In verse 36, we learn about Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and his children, God says, "I am giving the land on which he walked because he wholly followed the Lord." The Lord also was angry with me, Moses says, for your sakes, saying, "Even you, Moses, shall not go in there."

But Joshua, the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him because he shall cause Israel to inherit the land. Moreover, your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims and who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. To them, I will give it, and they shall possess it.

But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the sea. Point number four: unbelief grieves the heart of God and hinders His work.

Blessing heavy considerations leaves you wondering, "Where do we go from here?" I think a good place to end is found in the New Testament book of Hebrews. You can note it down or turn there if you'd like—Hebrews chapter 3.

In the book of Hebrews, chapter 3, the author is going back to a specific story in Deuteronomy chapter 1 and Numbers chapters 13 and 14. The author writes this in Hebrews 3, beginning at verse 7: "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness." This refers to the day at Kadesh Barnea that Moses is speaking of.

"Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, that day in the wilderness where your fathers tested Me and tried Me," God says, "and they saw My works for forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation and said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.' So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another, stir each other up, and encourage one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said, "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

Holding fast our confidence in the Lord, our trust in the Lord—will that just make coronavirus go away tomorrow? No, but it will give you strength, peace, joy, and perseverance in the trial.

I think it is incredibly valuable and hugely important that the people of God, the followers of God, walk with God in trust and faith. Why? This is a hugely evangelistic opportunity for the church because we all know that everyone you know is...

Being affected by this in some way, shape, or form, a lot of people are fearful. If the people of God have faith and hope in God, and as a result have love, joy, peace, self-control, and kindness—the fruit of the Spirit in their lives—it is a huge witness to other people. They look at you, and they're freaking out while you're going through the same thing. They wonder, how come that person has peace? The answer is that we have trust in God.

The fact is, bad things happen. For the Christian, what is the worst possible thing that could happen? You die, and you get to heaven faster than the other guy. Paul said, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." I want to suggest to you that living in a place such as we do here in America, we don't have time to think about things like that. We have basically tried to make heaven on earth. In the West, for the last 70 years, we've tried as best as we can to create a paradise, and we've gotten pretty good at it.

It's not heaven; there are still problems, but we've made significant progress. We have conveniences like microwaves, and until this last week, we had toilet paper. We have all these great things, so you've probably never thought that "to die is gain." But that's what the Bible says. The worst possible thing that could happen to someone who's a Christian is that they die and get to heaven a little bit quicker. I'm not sure we really believe that, and so we see the fear and hysteria that even we Christians generate in the midst of this.

I think God may be saying, "Do you trust me?" It's a real good question—one I've had to wrestle with a little bit this week as well. Miles, do you trust me in the midst of all this? I have to confess there are times when I have to say, with the man whose demon-possessed son was writhing on the ground in front of Jesus, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief."

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? God, would you help our unbelief today? Help us to find rest and peace in You. So many of us, when people ask us, "Lord, how are you doing?" we say, "Busy."

I decided to just let us not be busy for a little while. I pray that we would take some time in this non-busy moment to set our hearts and our minds on things above and to be reminded that You are seated on a throne in heaven. One day, You will bring a kingdom—Your kingdom, Your power, Your glory. There will no longer be any sickness; there will be no viruses. You will wipe away every tear.

I pray that You would give us a true faith, trust, and hope in that. The things that go on in this life, though they might challenge, stretch, and weigh upon us, will not overwhelm us because we are yoked to You. We would be at peace; we would have rest. You say, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." I pray that we would experience that rest, that it would be evident in us.

As we interact with other people this week and in the coming weeks, I pray that they would see it and want to know more. We would be able to say, "Let me tell you about my Lord." God, do a work in Your church, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.