11-08-2022

Good Morning All,

       Deuteronomy 7:21; “You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God”

    Any of you who were, or are athletes, or have watched a movie or two about sports contests know all about the pep speech.  Sometimes it is before the start of the game; if you remember the movies” Hoosiers” where the coach (Gene Hackman) takes the tape measure and shows the players that the big city gym and basketball court is the same as theirs back home trying to calm the nerves.  If you want a good pep speech, the one Al Pacino gives in “Any given Sunday” when he talks about how football and life is about inches and fighting for that inch.  Of course, the classic is “Win one for the Gipper” by Knute Rockne’s half time speech of the 1928 Army-Notre Dame Game. 

    This verse is part of a pep speech that Moses is giving to the Israelites as they are leaving the wilderness and entering the land of Canaan to conquer it.  The Lord you God is in your midst there is no need to dread them.  The Israelites had no need to fear their enemies as God had promised them success.  The Hittites, the Amorites, the Jebusites, and the others were not going to be a match for the Israelites even though these other nations appeared to be stronger.

      What about us?  Do we need a pep speech?  Do we fear our enemies?  You might think that you fear no enemies; no country would dare attack this country; perhaps that is true but what about your personal enemies.  Instead of the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites, are our enemies named fear, anxiety, and doubt?  Do we sit in dread of some calamity that looms on the horizon?  Do we fear the next visit to the doctor?  Are we anxious about the rain or lack of or perhaps the last storm puts us a little uneasy about the next one?  Do you wonder if those people in your lives are questioning whether or not you are worth the effort to love anymore?  Perhaps you feel like a burden to everyone because you can’t do everything like you used to.  We all have lots of enemies in our lives trying to cause you dread, trying to cause you to lose sleep, trying to separate you from the Good Shepherd’s flock. 

    We have no reason to dread for the Lord our God is in our midst and he is a great and awesome God.  God’s love for you is so powerful that he sent Jesus to die for you in order that you and I will be reconciled back to God.  That intimate conversation between God and man which took place in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the morning, which was broken by sin, is repaired by Christ’s death and resurrection.  God the Father, working through God the Son, with God the Spirit as the active agent is in our midst giving us the speech, “nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus”, or “This is eternal life that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You sent” or “I can do all things through Him (Jesus) who strengthens me” and the list goes on.  God gives us these to give us hope when we need it, comfort when we need it and strength when we need it.  We have nothing to dread for God is in our midst.   

Father of all mercies, your grace rolls over us like a mighty river.  We thank you for your everlasting love which knows no measure and has no bounds.  Keep us safe in your hands and protect us from all evil and give us that sense of peace which comes only from you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret