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\u201cBut you wouldn\u2019t go up [into the land, Moses said to Israel]. You refused to obey the command of the Lord your God. You spoke against him in your tents. You said, \u201cThe Lord hates us. That\u2019s why he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites. He wanted to destroy us. Where can we go? The men who checked out the land have made us afraid. They say, \u2018The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large. They have walls that reach up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.\u2019\u201d\u2009Then I said to you, \u201cDon\u2019t be terrified. Don\u2019t be afraid of them. The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will fight for you. With your own eyes you saw how he fought for you in Egypt. You also saw how the Lord your God brought you through the desert. He carried you everywhere you went, just as a father carries his son. And now you have arrived here\u201d (Deuteronomy 1:26-31).

Today, we ponder the second half of the Bible\u2019s story. Yesterday, Pastor Anthony reflected on the first half, so if you missed yesterday\u2019s, you might want to pause here and do that first. As he said, the first half of the Bible is all about God\u2019s gifts to us. The second half explores how we respond to these gifts. And as our text relates, humans tend to be less than thankful for God\u2019s gifts.

Before we explore that, let\u2019s turn to the book of 1 Corinthians in which we read, \u201cThose things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us. That\u2019s because we are living at the time when God\u2019s work is being completed. So be careful. When you think you are standing firm, you might fall (10:11-12). This is no subtle warning that we really need to pay attention to this story.

Of course, we are not Israel. Arguably, the gift God gives us is much greater. Earlier Paul wrote, \u201cBecause of what God has done, you belong to Christ Jesus\u2026He makes us right with God. He makes us holy and sets us free (1 Corinthians 1:30). He continues, \u201cWe have received the Spirit who is from God. The Spirit helps us understand what God has freely given us\u201d (2:12), and \u201cwe have the mind of Christ\u201d (2:16). God\u2019s gift to us is Christ Jesus and all his benefits. This gift will keep giving until we have received our inheritance on the new earth.

How do we respond to God\u2019s gifts?

The best thing to do is to receive them with joy and thanksgiving; as Pastor Anthony said, like a child. But somewhere between childhood and adulthood many of us become like the Israelites. We look at the gifts God gives and decide that God can\u2019t do it. We are too scarred, too broken, we can\u2019t be fixed. We believe the lie that God\u2019s primary attitude towards us is hatred. He is repulsed by what we have done, or the things done to us. Try as we might, we can\u2019t rid ourselves of sin\u2019s stain. So focussed on the bleating of evil around us, we do not hear the words of Jesus, \u201cFor those sins I died.\u201d We are filled with fear.

It might also be that we are too proud to receive them. This sort of refusing pride comes in two ways. On the one hand, we do not think we are sinful enough to need redeeming, all we need is a tweak here and a tweak over there and we are good to go, heaven should be proud to have us. Such pride has never investigated their own heart. Such hearts cannot receive the gift.

On the other hand, there is a pride that refuses to receive God\u2019s grace. Refuses, not because we are so stained, but because we are rooted in a theology that says, \u2018we must earn our place\u2019. Among seasoned Christians, I constantly hear versions of this. As much as we talk about grace, we cannot believe it. When we slow down enough to examine are own hearts, we discover we are filled with fear. We have not made enough progress in the Christian life; God must hate me for being a repetitive failure.

In the face of such fear, Moses reminds Israel of what God has been doing for her: he has been present with her and going before her; as her divine Warrior and Captain he fought for her defeating her enemies before her very eyes; and he has sustained her through the great and terrifying desert. With sensitive pastoral touch, Moses compared God\u2019s care to that of a parent who carries their child through danger to safety. She has experienced God both as fighter and as father, as savior and as provider; a powerful combination of metaphors that echoes through the whole Bible.

Echoing Moses\u2019 compassion, Paul says that we belong to God, we are set right with him, we are set free and made holy, we have the Spirit of God and the mind of Christ. Like Moses, Paul says, \u2018Don\u2019t be afraid. God can do this.\u2019 Move forward in faith, receive the gift, embrace the promise.