The English, “dismayed,” is found only in the Old Testament, and 31 times in the King James Version. The Hebrew word is hay’tawt (my transliteration), which is found 57 times in the Old Testament, the following the first five usages:
Deuteronomy 1:21, “Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8, “And 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.”
Joshua 1:9, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
Joshua 8:1, “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.”
Joshua 10:25, “And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.”
In all five, the verb, hay’tawt, is a command: neither be discouraged, neither be dismayed, neither be thou dismayed, neither be thou dismayed, and nor be dismayed.
Of all the commands in these familiar passages, “be not dismayed,” I contend, is the one that slips through the cracks. What gets attention are those such as, “go,” “possess,” “fear not,” “be strong,” “be not afraid,” and “be of a good courage.”
God doesn’t want His people to be dismayed. It’s not an English word we use any more. It is “to be broken,” “panicking,” “shattered,” or “disheartened.” Dismayal relates to attitude, outlook, or disposition. God requires particular dispositions, which does mean that we can understand them. We must say, no, to being dismayed, and we can know what that is. We can’t play dumb on dismayal.
What is the underlying cure for dismay, what buoys against that sinking? God sets the land before you. God is with you. God will not fail or forsake you. God has given you the king, his people, and his hand. God will put his foot on the necks of His enemies. It is God.
When a professing believer is dismayed, it reflects on His belief. What does He believe about God? How can he remain dismayed when God is God, God is Who He is, God has done, does, and will do what He does and will do. God wants an attitude, a disposition, that matches the truth. These are affections. A true, governing knowledge of God affects our spirit. Jonathan Edwards in his Treatise on the Religious Affections wrote that the “affections of the soul” move someone out of a state of indifference. He writes:
The Knowledge which the Saints have of God’s Beauty and Glory in this World, and those holy Affections that arise from it, are of the same Nature and Kind with what the Saints are the Subjects of in Heaven, differing only in Degree and Circumstances. . . . Those Affections that are truly Holy, are primarily founded on the Loveliness of the moral Excellency of divine Things. Or, (to express it otherwise) a Love to divine Things for the Beauty and Sweetness of their moral Excellency, is the first Beginning and Spring of all holy Affections. . . . That Religion which God requires, and will accept, don’t consist in weak, dull and lifeless Wouldings, raising us but a little above a State of Indifference: God, in his Word, greatly insists upon it, that we be in good Earnest, fervent is Spirit, and our Hearts vigorously engaged in Religion.
This is a person, who is not dismayed. He doesn’t need to be fired up. He doesn’t need short-term, temporal, fleshly gratification to motivate him.
Edwards uses the word, “Wouldings,” “dully and lifeless Wouldings.” They are not can or will, but would. They would, but they won’t. They would do it, but they can’t get themselves to do it, because their disposition is so dull and lifeless. God isn’t a good enough reason.
Not being dismayed closely relates in a positive way to the joy in heaven, the joy in the Trinity that the Triune God wants men to share. Live in light of eternity. God requires this too.
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