Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today. Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
Genesis 50:20-21 (emphasis added)

God is good. So VERY good. We are selfish. So VERY selfish. It’s okay to admit that you are human. You and I both know it’s true. We don’t MEAN to be, necessarily, but we ARE. It isn’t always malicious selfishness. But everything we do, we filter through a ‘ME’ lens. We tend to look at our problems. Sometimes we extend that worry to those around us. We are capable of very generous actions, but usually we are the ones first and foremost in our minds. It’s the way humans are. Even parents.

Parents are selfish like the rest of us, but we worry about our kids too. That isn’t selfish you say. I’d do anything for my kids. That might be true, but deep down are we more concerned with how what happens to them impacts us, or are we purely concerned about them? We hurt when they hurt, so we don’t want them to hurt. Because we don’t want THEM hurt, or WE don’t like feeling OUR hurt for them? You see? When mankind fell, we traded selfless service for selfishness. No matter what varnish we put on things, how much we help or have a heart for others, human kindness is ALWAYS tinged with self.

But that isn’t the way God is. God thinks of US and OUR kids. And our KIDS’ kids. Always. Because there is nothing we can do for Him that He NEEDS. He is GOD. He is above ALL THINGS. You know what else? He’s forward thinking (Genesis 17:7). He’s forward thinking without sacrificing being cognisant of the past. Even as He thinks of us and our kids’ kids’ kids, He is also thinking of those before. Our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents. He is thinking of all He said to them. All He promised. He thinks of the relationship He had with past generations, current, and future generations. Not just for you or me, but for all of us. Not just the saved, but also the still lost. Somewhere in everyone’s past is a believer. Someone who walked with God, talked with God, and was promised of God. His words are good FOREVER (Genesis 9:12-13). And He never, EVER neglects a promise (Isaiah 55:10-11).

He is above selfishness. He thinks beyond a single person without leaving that person out of His thoughts. It is amazing and almost unfamothable (Isaiah 55:8-9). He has all of us in His thoughts and plans all the time. He never forgets or leaves any of us alone. If you take a trip into the books of Exodus or Deuteronomy, it talks of God’s faithfulness again and again. Deuteronomy 7:9 says “Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments.” We think of our offspring, God things of nine hundred and ninety-nine generations after us – and cares for each and every individual all along that web of family. And always with OUR best in mind, not His.

He guided the Israelites out of Egypt and watched over them (Exodus). Teaching them what to do and what to avoid in order for them to live their best lives and be conquerors in the land He was leading them to. A land where they were meant to rely on Him and let Him guide them. Later, in Deuteronomy 17, God talks to them about kings. “When you have got to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me” (17:14). That doesn’t happen for decades upon decades. Not until 1 Samuel 8. But when they reached there, the nation does indeed demand a king. God AGAIN tells them it isn’t a good idea – certainly not a God idea – but they insist. He knew hundreds of years before that what would happen. He didn’t keep it a secret, but told them plain and clearly. But even then He had a king in mind. And a successor to that king. And all the other kings. God KNOWS the future and what we are going to choose. But it is still OUR CHOICE. Freewill. But God sees the result ahead of time and makes a provision for our choices.

What about that commandment thing? Do this or I’m going to? Isn’t that about making us do what He wants? Isn’t that eliminating real choice? Choosing to be crushed or not to be crushed isn’t much of a choice when a hammer is above your head. Well, He gives us commandments so that we can live in freedom and righteousness instead of bondage and selfishness. It isn’t a threat. It isn’t a demand from Him. It isn’t about making us do what He likes so that He is happy. It’s about us being created to be a certain way, to be the best that we can be and us NOT being able to achieve all we can and not being able to be satisfied in our whole selves, unless we do what is compatible with how we were made. Because they are our spiritual heritage. They are that which we are meant to do. They are the water in which we were meant to swim. Not doing them, not conforming to righteous thought, righteous behaviour, and righteous belief is like a fish leaping out of the water and trying to exist in an office job in Manhattan. It just won’t work.

On our own, we will fail every time. We don’t have what it takes. But like a fish given a scuba suit, we have a way to success presented to us. By Grace, through Faith, we can find true fulfilment in Christ Jesus who gives us His righteous spirit (2 Corinthians 5:21). It isn’t God commanding us as a dictator commands. It is God pointing out the black and white truth of things. It is God showing us the only way we can be 100% happy, 100% fulfilled, 100% what we were designed to be. Pure. Holy. Children of Yahweh on High. It is God showing us how we can enable ourselves to always stand under His Blessing and enjoy His provision.

Have you ever read Psalm 104? You want to talk provision? You can’t talk about provision or the Goodness of God without Psalm 104. I particularly like verse 28: “Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.” There is never a shortage of good things that God has for us. Small things. Big things. He likes us to have many good things. “Full of your riches.” The verse doesn’t specify material wealth or spiritual wealth. It doesn’t say richness of spirit as we meditate and pray with solemnity. It says HIS riches. All of them. Every kind. Every single type and way to be and have richness. That is humbling and amazing.

You know what it should stir in us? Not debates about rich vs poor. Not theological structures of how to receive. No. It should stir your PRAISE. Simple, straight-forward, and heartfelt praise. As it says in verses 33-34 of the same Psalm: “I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in Yahweh.” I will rejoice in the Lord in what He does, however He wants to do it, because He has me and I KNOW He has me. He had my ancestors and He will have my descendants.

How can we be afraid if we really listen to these verses? How can you be afraid when you’re in the hand of someone who sees hundreds of years into the future of your choices and the choices of your descendants and then makes a plan to meet that need? We get confident when we know what the weather will probably be tomorrow. We lay out clothes and get all prepared. Proudly. We have it going ON. How much MORE does GOD have it going on? How can we FEAR when GOD is our PARTNER, our SHIELD, and our PROVIDER? Not just our provider, but our children’s? And our children’s, children’s, children? While remembering and fulfilling the promises from a thousand years ago? DO NOT FEAR. God provides. In fact, look at the name God calls Himself in Genesis 17:1 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.“

God Almighty/Almighty God/El Shaddai is the name of God here – it will depend on your translation. A literal translation of the Hebrew verse is closer to: “I am He Whose Godliness suffices for every creature. Therefore, walk before Me and I will be your God and your Protector.” Every time you see this name in scripture (whichever translation of the Word you’re reading), it means ‘His Sufficiency’. God is our sufficiency. In every situation. In every way. That is MIGHTY provision. That is prosperity: never-ending sufficiency. DON’T fear. Lean into God. Cleave to His ways. And let HIM be your sufficiency.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Revelation 1:4-8

They say introductions (first impressions) are very important. As introductions go, this one is a DOOZY. God (Father and Son) is described as He “who loves us” and “who is and who was and who is to come.” The Beginning and the End. Alpha/Omega. And through all that time, God loved us. Before we were. After this world is gone. And while it is happening. His love will be steadfast and strong. Love that brings us into the family of God Himself. Love that appoints us to a calling and service. Love that includes us in what is and what will be. While educating us in what it has been. All of us. None meant to be left behind. A place for all who choose to inhabit their place. All of us. That’s SOME kind of love.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.