Psalm 27:¹³ I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. ¹⁴Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Does this reference mean you and I can have ‘good courage’ by trusting in the goodness of the LORD and waiting for His solution in difficult circumstances?

Would trusting in ourselves and our own abilities and resources be ’bad courage’?

What do you know of the goodness of the LORD?

Checking the concordance, I was amazed to see how often the Bible refers to ‘good courage’.

In this series we will examine these occurrences to answer these questions

Spying the Promised Land

Numbers 13:¹⁷ And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: ¹⁸And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; ¹⁹And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; ²⁰And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. ²¹So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. ²²And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. ²⁴The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. ²⁵And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. ²⁶And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. ²⁸Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. ²⁹The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. ³⁰And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. ³¹But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. ³²And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. ³³And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

The mission was to spy the land promised to them.

The spies reported the land floweth with milk and honey.

The spies returned with pomegranates, figs and one cluster of grapes two carried on a staff

The mission was to see who inhabited the land promised to them.

Were the inhabitants strong or weak?

Did the inhabitants live in tents or strongholds?

Were the inhabitants few or many?

Did the spies have ‘good courage’?

Did Caleb have ‘good courage’?

The result of the people believing the spies was 40 years in the wilderness rather than possessing the Promised Land!

Why do you think the spies forgot God’s promise to give them the land?

How easy is it for you to look at circumstances rather than remember God’s promises to you?

What did you learn about the goodness of the LORD in this passage?

Moses forbidden to enter the Promised Land

Deuteronomy 31:¹ And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel. ²And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. ³The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said. ⁴And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed. ⁵And the LORD shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you. ⁶Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. ⁷And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. ⁸And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. ⁹And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, ¹¹When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: ¹³And that their children, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

God’s promise:

The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them

the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee

Why do you think the Israelites were instructed to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles so children would learn to fear the LORD?

As a child what did you learn about God? Who taught you?

What are you teaching children around you about God?

What did you learn about the goodness of the LORD in this passage?

The LORD reveals their future and instructs the Israelites to prepare

Deuteronomy 31¹⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation. ¹⁵And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle. ¹⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? ¹⁸And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. ¹⁹Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. ²⁰For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. ²¹And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. ²²Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. ²³And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee. ²⁴And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, ²⁵That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, ²⁶Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. ²⁷For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death? ²⁸Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. ³⁰And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

What does it matter to you that GOD knows your future?

What reasons has God given you to have ‘good courage’?

What did you learn about the goodness of the LORD in this passage?

Our focus = Hebrews 12:¹Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Our challenge = Dearly Beloved,

Run with your eyes on Jesus alone!

Run in faith that Jesus loves you, has uniquely designed and created only one you, has a good plan for your life, runs with you and will accomplish His purposes for you and  through you!

Run in His strength alone!

Run with your eyes on the prize!

Run with the desire to finish strong!

Run with the desire to finish with your lamp burning!

Run with the expectation of being in His physical presence when you cross your finish line!

Run to His glory alone!

Run and keep on running!

Coach Patti