Fear No Fear

Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today; for you will never again see thee Egyptians whom you have seen today.
Exodus 14:13 (emphasis added)


God is a simple God. But He does COMPLEX things. I read a tweet from a meteorology student who said, “I still find it remarkable that all of weather & atmosphere is just a bunch of super straight-forward rules that turn into super complex systems that then turn into very recognisable practical things like ‘a cloud’ or ‘wind’.” That’s how God works. There is a system where we are obedient to Him, worship Him presenting ourselves as an altar to the Lord, and He does things that benefit us. Not because WE’VE done things, but because we allow Him to do what He wants.

In Genesis, Yahweh God GAVE us the earth – to steward, not own. He told us to fill it, subdue it, and rule it – including ALL the fish, ALL the birds, and EVERY animal that moves on land. Then He gave us ALL the plants that bear seeds and EVERY tree that bears fruit for food (Genesis 1:26-29). That about covers it. Pre-Fall, we had TOTAL dominion. God said, ‘Here you go, let’s see what you do with it’ and then said to us ‘let me come in and bless you. Let me help you.’ And we did. We met Him in the windy time of day (Genesis 3:8. This is sometimes translated as in the cool of the day, but the literal translation is ‘at the wind of the day’ which I find fascinating because in the first verse of the bible we’re told the Spirit hovers and moves and in Acts the Spirit comes like a rushing wind). After our rebellion and Fall, things changed. Meat eventually got on the menu (Right after the Flood – Genesis 9:3-6). We had to TOIL to achieve our job. Childbirth got quite painful. But NOWHERE after the Fall does God relinquish our dominion – in fact in Genesis 9:1-7 He repeats His command.

We still have it. We lost our authority in relation to the power of God because we lost our righteousness (which Jesus gets back to us IN HIMSELF – Romans 3:21-23). But we have our authority of dominion. Like any good renter, we get to say who comes into this world and what happens here. Sadly for humanity, we chose to let the devil in. And we keep letting him work. All he has is WORDS. He has NO POWER that we do not GIVE him. Why? Because we have dominion here on earth. We get to say what spiritual forces come here to work – that’s why God looks for someone to do what He asks (Isaiah 6:8; 2 Chronicles 16:9). Now the devil and all evil spirits cajole, bribe, shout, scream, and pry their way in every way they can with every human they can (but not 24/7. Just because something is bad is NOT a guarantee it is from the devil). God doesn’t do that. God doesn’t NEED to. His still small voice speaks. We can choose to let Him in to work, or we can refuse Him entrance. Moses understood this very well. Look at today’s verse.

The Israelites did NOT have to stand firm, be confident, or be still. They could have panicked, been dismayed, and given up. They were told to stand firm and believe God would help. Because they remembered His power (Deuteronomy 8:11-18) and obeyed Him, God was able to do what He wanted to do and save them. Because they let Him in. They let Him accomplish His blessing. Not just save them, but remove the problem so thoroughly that it would never bother them again. God wants to help us. God wants us to obey Him. God wants us to let Him in (Revelation 3:20). God wants us to be patient – to stand as long as we need to stand. His will, His time – when it is NOW, it’s NOW and when it’s SOON it’s SOON. This is a simple system. But it can create complex things. Things that seem, to our natural eyes to be impossible. Things that are to our laws of nature ARE impossible. Remember, He isn’t BOUND by creation. He is OUTSIDE creation. He can use the backdoor. He can do what WE cannot.

Jeremiah 32:27 says “Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?” God also knew the people would begin to doubt. To think ‘maybe not this time.’ Deuteronomy 7:17-18 says “If you shall say in your heart, ‘These nations are more than I; how can I disposses them?’ you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.” God can do anything. He never wants us to wonder if He can or is willing to work. ‘You never know what God wants’ is a foreign statement to the Kingdom. The Word is always clear on the will and the heart of the Father.

What is our promise in Isaiah 54:17? “No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.” In the Lexham English Bible it reads: “This is the inheritance of the servants of Yahweh, and their legal right (or justice) from me,” (literally by declaration of) Yahweh.” Isn’t that tremendous?

Yahweh God of all Creation declared us to have the legal right of protection from every weapon formed or even whetted against us with the provision of us being allowed to condemn every tongue that tries to come against us in judgment – which means prove them wrong, not put condemnation on them. That is an amazing right granted to those who love, honour, and obey the Lord God. Did that phrase sound familiar? It should. Marriage vows, right? Remember that those in Christ are His bride (Ephesians 5:23).

Stand on these verses. Be patient on them. To be patient is to be steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity. Do that and before long you’ll be remembering times when He solved your problem so that it would never return (Nahum 1:9). So much of our lives are about postponing trouble. Patching things. That’s what the old covenant of atonement was all about. Covering sin, not dealing with the root cause – because only Jesus CAN deal with the root. The New Covenant solved the issue of sin forever. The price was paid once for all. Peace on earth. Goodwill toward humanity. God is a God of forever solutions.

When we ground ourselves in the Word, we’re not trying to warp the text to get the result we want. We are reading the Word, seeking revelation from Holy Spirit, and applying the Word to us. That will often entail us shifting our viewpoint and changing our minds. But that’s what the Word is for (Romans 12:1-2): to align ourselves with the Lord by moving into Jesus. We conform to Him. We change our way of thinking to embrace HIS. He wants things for us that are so much better than we want. The Lord deals with us spiritually and then physically. Kingdom, then earth. That’s what the Lord’s prayer has at the front. What was the first thing Jesus said after He opened with praise for the Father? Let your Kingdom come. “Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). See? That’s not us working on God. That’s us letting the Kingdom come to earth (using our dominion to welcome the Lord in) and then conforming so that God’s will (NOT ours) is done in the situation and world around us. HIS way, not OUR way (Luke 22:42).

Don’t be afraid of your problems. God has a solution. He had a solution before you had a problem. Remember what He has done in the past. Let that bolster your faith. Stand still. Be firm. Do not give in to dismay. Don’t be afraid of the solution. God wants the best for us. God wants better things for us than we could imagine (Isaiah 55:8-9). Let His Kingdom come. Let His will be done.

Rejoice in the Lord and believe He does forever solutions that do not need to be possible from our standpoint. Believe. Believe He is a God of all flesh – yours AND everyone else’s, so neither disease or sickness or persecutors can triumph. Believe He is a God who can do all things and show you the deliverance that He has for you wherever you are, whenever you need it:

“It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble” (Isaiah 40:22-24).

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Hebrews 12:8

This world is full of laws and rules. When we break those rules, we get punished. The unfair systems are those that punish to be cruel, to profit from us, or that are forced upon us. The fair ones are those we agreed to – and sometimes we fail to uphold. The best are those for our benefit. Like the rules many parents have for their kids. The rules are (hopefully) not designed to be arbitrary or withholding, but teaching and beneficial. Don’t touch the stove (burn prevention), don’t go to that web page (disturbing images), and even go to bed (rest and renewal). God is the same way, but perfect. Nothing arbitrary. Nothing withholding. Nothing petty. Nothing unnecessary. Correction and discipline because He loves us and wants to see us be our best selves. For us to walk in the righteousness that we can walk in when we walk in Jesus. We see correction and discipline as negatives. They might not be enjoyable, but when they come from God they are long-term the most positive things we could ever experience. And they are solid, irrefutable evidence that He does love us. We don’t bother to correct those we don’t care about, right? He LOVES us.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I ___________________.