Deuteronomy 2:16

Deuteronomy 2:16 says, So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,  This would have been all the men who were over twenty when the people of Israel first got to the Promised Land.  Verse seventeen adds, That the LORD spake unto me, saying,  Verse eighteen continues, Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:   Moses said that God told him it was now time once again for the people of Israel to move toward the Promised Land.   After lacking the faith to go in all those years ago, and even attempting to do it on their own after God told them they weren't going to be allowed in and and failing, a new generation was now ready to go into the Promised Land.  We cannot just choose when and where we will come to God, but must come when He calls us, and we must then be ready to follow Him by faith wherever He leads us if we are to be spiritually successful in life.  Verse nineteen states, And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.  God told them not to disturb the children of Ammon, because He had given the land that they possessed as a possession to the children of Lot.  God does not change His word to one group of people to help another group.  When God makes a promise, we can be certain that He will fulfill it.  Verse twenty adds, (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;  God said that people who counted as giants once lived in the land.  We are going to encounter those people and things that seem to be giants in our spiritual life, but as long as we are faithful to God, they will just be something that once existed in our life.  Verse twenty-one continues,  A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:  God said that He had defeated giants in the past and He could do so again when the people of Israel went into the Promised Land, and He still can today in our life.  Nothing is big enough to defeat God.  Verse twenty-two says, As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:  Moses reminded the people of Israel that God had defeated giants when Esau took possession of the land God given him.  Our giants are no bigger nor more powerful than those that God has defeated in the past.  Verse twenty-three adds, And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)  This was just a reminder that giants had been defeated before. We are not the first followers of Christ to face giants, nor will we be the last, but as long as we remain faithful to God, we need to realize that He has already defeated them.  Verse twenty-four states, Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.  God told the people of Israel to pass over the river Arnon, where they would battle the king of the Amorites.  God did not tell them that He had already removed the king of the Amorites, but that they must go by faith and battle Him.  God does not remove all the spiritual and even physical giants or just normal sized enemies from our lives today, but He gives us the power to overcome them.  Verse twenty-five adds, This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.  God said He would put the fear of the people of Israel into all who stood against them.  They had done nothing that would have caused others to fear them, except put their faith in God.  As long as we are faithful to God, those who fight against us should do so in fear of the power of God.