Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Deuteronomy chapter 3 verses 18 through 22:
18 At that time, I charged you as follows: “Although the Lord your God has given you this land to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your Israelite kin. 19 Only your wives, your children, and your livestock—I know that you have much livestock—shall stay behind in the towns that I have given to you. 20 When the Lord gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to you.” 21 And I charged Joshua as well at that time, saying: “Your own eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; so the Lord will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22 Do not be afraid, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.”
Though I have not counted them myself, I have been told that in the Bible there are exactly 365 appearances of the words, “Do not be afraid,” — once for every day of the year. (If you count them and find another number please don’t tell me, because 365 preaches a whole lot better than 364!)
In any case, it’s pretty much true that every day of the year we need these words at least once to encourage us and give us strength: “Do not be afraid.”
At least since the early church Father Origen, the church has taught us to read the Old Testament allegorically. There is a lot of stuff in there — mass slaughter, pillage, enslavement of girls — that is literally repugnant. We simply cannot take those commands literally. For the letter of the law killeth”; and guaranteed anyone who says they follow the letter of the law literally only follows some of it — the part that confirms all their prejudices.
The Letter killeth, but the Spirit gives life.” And understood spiritually, or allegorically, we can read Scripture like the one we are given today and take the message to heart, again and again: “Do not be afraid.”
No, we aren’t called to go to war with the Midianites; and the Bible shouldn’t be used as pretext for war with anybody else either. But a guarantee is we do have a battle at hand. And we are called to fight the good fight. And the words from today’s Lesson still have something spiritually true to say to us today, and every day:
“Do not be afraid, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.”
NOTE: Tomorrow’s Lesson will be from Deuteronomy chapters 5-7.
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