Originally posted: 07/21/2019
“You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God,” (7:21).
Unknowns. Anticipation of uncertainties ahead often results in anxiety and fear, a looming sense of dread. The children of Israel stood on the edge of an expansive unfamiliar, readying themselves to occupy the new and unknown territory.
However, their future was anything but uncertain, for the LORD, their God was in their midst, the Great and Awesome God, to lead them by His mighty hand and outstretched arm.
Consider Him, the Great and Awesome God
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who has chosen a people for His own possession.
- “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth,” (7:6).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who chooses to love and redeem.
- “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt,” (7:7-8).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who faithfully keeps His covenant and lovingkindness.
- “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments,” (7:9).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who executes His justice in righteousness.
- “…but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face,” (7:10).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who abundantly blesses His people.
- “He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and…14 You shall be blessed above all peoples…” (7:13-14).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who dispels fear by His signs and wonders.
- “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ 18 you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid,” (7:17-19).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who dispels fear by His presence.
- “You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God,” (7:21).
- He Is the Great and Awesome God Who clears the way for His people.
- “The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them before you, and will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed,” (7:22-23).
How do we respond to Him, the Great and Awesome God?
Looking to the unknowns can be tempting, striving to wrap our minds around the possibilities lurking ahead. Scripture repeatedly calls for the children of faith to well remember Who He is and what He has done, “…you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did…” (7:18 emphasis added).
Today let us fix our minds on Him, the Great and Awesome God, that we would well remember Who He is and all He has done.
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who chose us.
- …just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him, (Ephesians 1:4).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who so loved us that He redeemed us through His blood.
- In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, (Ephesians 1:7).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who faithfully keeps His covenant.
- In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, (Ephesians 1:13-14).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who executes His justice in righteousness.
- “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead,” (Acts 17:30-31).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who has abundantly blessed us.
- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (Ephesians 1:3).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who dispels our fear by the greatest of all His signs and wonders, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power,” (Acts 2:22-24).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who dispels our fear by His presence.
- …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
- Let us well remember… He Is the Great and Awesome God Who has cleared the way for His people to receive His salvation and abundant life.
- “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” (John 10:9-10)
- Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” (John 14:6).
Today let us intentionally turn our hearts to well remember Who He is and all He has done: He is the Great and Awesome God!