A Great Message Of Encouragement

THE SCENE

I’d like you to imagine a scene. It’s about 1500 B.C. We’re in a wilderness a little to the south of the Dead Sea in what was then Moab and is now Jordan.

Around us there are people, tents, and animals. The people look tough, weather-beaten. For forty years they’ve been living as nomads in the Sinai Peninsula. Then an old man stands up. Who is he, I wonder? Someone whispers to me, ‘That’s Moses’.

Moses is 120. 40 years ago he led the people of Israel out of Egypt and he’s been leading them ever since. Moses starts to reflect. He reminds the people that they had been here before – or at least, their mothers and fathers had. ‘But,’ he tells them, ‘you would not go up’. You were afraid. You’d seen how God had delivered you from Egypt. You’d seen how he had cared for you in the wilderness. But you did not trust God.

The previous time the people of Israel had been there, Moses had sent spies into the land. The spies came back and reported. The land was great! But, the spies said, ‘the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large … WE ARE NOT ABLE TO GO UP AGAINST THE PEOPLE, FOR THEY ARE STRONGER THAN WE ARE.’ The spies sowed fear and the people didn’t enter the land.

Now, after 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula, the people of Israel were back. They want to enter the land God had led them to. But Moses, their leader for the past 40 years, is now 120. And God has told him that he won’t enter the promised land. What will happen? Will the people of Israel prevail against all the nations in Canaan? How will it go without Moses leading them? The future must have looked very uncertain and perilous for the people of Israel, camped out in the wilderness.

OUR SCENE

I don’t need you to imagine our next scene: it’s the one we’re in. Two years ago, in January 2020, there were the first two cases of Covid in the UK. That same month, the UK formally withdrew from the European Union. What a lot of change Covid and Brexit have brought! The NHS is stretched, teachers are stretched, the care sector is stretched, and as a country, we’re financially stretched. Depression is up; divorce is up. Simmering in the background is the looming threat of global warming and climate change.

But that doesn’t complete the list of problematic things for Christians. Church attendance in England has halved in 35 years! In 1980 it was more than 5 million; in 2015, 2.5 million. [Peter Brierley survey.] That doesn’t look good. How about Rosebery Park? We have experienced a decline in attendance. Now, we don’t have many members and most of our members aren’t so young! With fewer members, everyone has to do more.

As we gaze into the future, we might not like what we see. Life has always had change and uncertainty but there seems to be an awful lot at the moment.

THE PROMISE

At this time of uncertainty I thought it would be good to start 2022 with a message of encouragement. In the Bible, God’s people often faced hugely uncertain and challenging situations. In those times, God encouraged his people.

But I thought that rather than give just ONE message of encouragement, over the next two months I would look at SIX great messages of encouragement in the Bible. I’ve never done a series like this before and I’m intrigued to see what we’ll come up with!

I’m starting with Moses’ great message of encouragement in Deuteronomy 31.

I described Moses speaking to the people of Israel. They were somewhere in the Arabah, an area just south of the Dead Sea. Deuteronomy is Moses’ final message to the people of Israel and by chapter 31 he’s almost at the end. Moses really wants to encourage the people. He also really wants to encourage Joshua, who will take over from him. He says exactly the same things to each. GOD WILL BE WITH YOU. GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS. Look at our passage.

Verse 1. Moses first addresses all Israel.

Verse 3. ‘The Lord your God himself will go over before you.’ GOD WILL BE WITH YOU.

Verses 3 to 5. ‘He will destroy these nations before you … the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og … the Lord will give them over to you …’ GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS.

GOD WILL BE WITH YOU. GOD WILL GIVE YOU SUCCESS. That’s Moses' message, isn’t it? How would you feel about going into a battle if you know that God will be with you and you will definitely win? Confident, I imagine!