Sometimes we find ourselves in difficult situations.
Sometimes things get hard.
Sometimes things seem impossible.
The children of Israel found themselves in situations like these all the time. They had faced famine, oppression and slavery, and attacks and traps from the enemy. And time and time again, had it not been for Adonai’s divine intervention, they would’ve been completely wiped out as a people because of the situations they wound up in.
In this week’s Torah portion, D’varim, Adonai repeats himself to the children of Israel. He says to them three times “Do not fear”.
Deuteronomy 1:21
“See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 1:29-31
“Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”
Deuteronomy 3:22-22
“At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”
Not having to fear is a blessing in and of itself.
But that’s not all…
Two out of those three times Adonai also tells Israel “I will fight for you”.
This powerful revelation is the reason why Israel didn’t have to fear.
It’s because they weren’t fighting through the difficult situations alone. In fact, when Adonai said “I will fight for you”, we can assume in complete confidence that He was able to and willing to give them the victory according to His might.
In chapters 1-3 of Deuteronomy, Moshe summarizes some of the specific trials they went through;
From being enslaved in Egypt, to wandering the desert, to facing giants in war. Time after time, they came out victorious because of Adonai’s divine intervention.
The Hebrew word for “fight” used in those verses is יִלָּחֵ֣ם-yilachem and the Hebrew pictographs give us even more depth to the reality of what it means when Adonai fights for us.
יִ-hand
לָּ-authority
חֵ֣-separate
ם-chaos
So when Adonai says he will fight on their behalf, He is saying that He will reach down His HAND with AUTHORITY and SEPARATE them from the CHAOS.
And the thing about the word of God is that it is living and active. That means that if Adonai fought for Israel, He WILL ALSO fight for you.
If you are experiencing hardship, trials, persecution…
If you are struggling with attacks on your marriage, your finances, or your health…
Be encouraged that the God of Israel is your God, because of the reconciliation bought by the blood of Yeshua on your behalf.
And because your God is a God of might and power and action, you can be sure He will fight for you.
He will reach His hand of authority into your life and separate you from the chaos that surrounds you.
Even now, in His grandest display of love, He fought for your very souls by sending His son to die in payment for them and rise in renewal of them.
So be encouraged!
And as Romans 8:31-38 says,
“What, then, are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare even His own Son, but gave him up on behalf of us all — is it possible that, having given us His Son, He would not give us everything else too? So who will bring a charge against God’s chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous! Who punishes them? Certainly not the Messiah Yeshua, who died, and more than that, has been raised, is at the right hand of God, and is actually pleading in our behalf! Who will separate us from the love of messiah? Trouble? Hardship? Persecution? Hunger? Poverty? Danger? War? As the Tanakh puts it,
“For your sake we are being put to death all the day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are superconquerors, through the one who has loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.”
Amen, amen.
Shavua tov b’shem Yeshua ❤️
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