Fear No Fear

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

Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master this: ‘Yahweh says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
2 Kings 19:6 (emphasis added)

I enjoy this verse for two reasons. First, if you’re in the Old Testament don’t talk trash to God. He isn’t going to like it and He is likely to do something about it. I do want to say here it is NOT because He is vengeful, angry, petty, or cruel. It is because if you’re stepping out of line with the Lord you’re stepping over the fence of protection and out to where you are subject to all the spiritual elements in the world. And guess what kiddies? If it isn’t of the Lord, then they are very bad spiritual elements. In the Old Covenant, that fence was high and firm. To protect us. To show us that without the Lord, we’re toast.

I thank God that we are in the New Covenant, and the price for sin has been paid. The Lord promised in Genesis 2:17 that “you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” In the Hebrew, there is more connotations with ‘surely die’. It does mean death. And we died spiritually. Instant action. But it also has a sense of ‘to be put to death’ or ‘must needs die’ and ‘surely be put to death’. Adam and Eve did not physically die, only spiritually. That DID introduce death into creation. Decay, sickness, death, all the elements of the curse. But we did not die FOR that sin. We were physically dying BECAUSE of sin. The price of sin was still hanging over us. We were condemned beings walking. Until Jesus. He came as a man, but not born of man — He did not have sin in His body. He was born of woman. His nature was pure from His Father, The Lord God Almighty. Jesus paid that price. Jesus took the condemnation that we were under from the first moment of sin and walked it out. He died in it. And when He was raised, He had broken the curse off us and enabled us IN HIM to walk in the total freedom and dominion here on this earth that we were given as males and females in Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 9:1-7.

If we trash talk, we’re not violating law. We’re just making the Lord sad. It IS true that you can blaspheme the Holy Spirit and it is a BIG no-no (Luke 12:10). But it’s not the same as the Old Testament, because they weren’t dealing with the Holy Spirit day to day in ourselves. But Old Testament? Blaspheme the Name and you’re heading to the grave (Leviticus 24:16). The second reason I like this verse is that here, like in many places, God affirms that He is handling things. The people were not to worry. It didn’t matter what other people said or why they did. God was taking care of it. They could sit back, relax, and focus on praising the Lord.

In fact, God didn’t use a single Israelite to solve this problem. An entire nation of people to choose from, many of them able-bodied and ready to defend their nation. Nada. Not one. He told what was going to happen. It happened. And boy did it happen. The Assyrian king didn’t leave it there. He sent more words against the Israelites. He blustered and fumed. But that night? A hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers were killed by an angel. In the morning, the rest left. The king went back home and was worshipping his idols when two of his sons assassinated him.

Don’t talk trash against the Lord.

From the Israelites point of view, the miracle and victory was that God saved them. They had called out to God for help. God helped. This time it was supernatural help. Other times there were words of knowledge and prophesy. There were times people were the tools. Other times the world around them (animals or the elements). Wherever the Lord had an altar and someone inviting Him to move, He was able to move and do what He wanted, how He wanted, and when. The Lord God helps. Why?

God loves us. “We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him” (1 John 4:16). “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). So God is love. And He determined to love us before He made anything. Before we sinned and fell. Before we could behave and obey. Before WE could do ANYTHING to earn it. God loved us. His love is NOT determined by our spiritual state. His love is NOT determined by our mental landscape. His love is NOT determined by our physical lives or actions. God loves us PERIOD. Because GOD IS LOVE. Period. Truth. Not to be argued, but it CAN be understand in and through His Spirit (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Sometimes it isn’t even believers that are helped. God blesses every human. He gives good things (Psalm 107:9). Why is that? “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm” Jonah 4:2b. God is LOVE and before ANYTHING was made, He chose to LOVE ALL OF US. ALL means ALL. EVERYONE. No exceptions. He LOVES us and He WANTS to save us: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

7That is why He sent His son, Jesus – to pay the price of sin for all of humanity. That was why there were sacrifices made available in the Old Testament – to provide temporary coverage until Jesus came.. God (Father, Son, and Spirit) is so desperate to get everyone into heaven that He never stops helping, blessing, and caring for them. He wants us to know He loves us. He loves us so much. This is the Good News. His love for us has provided a way for us to be FREE. Forever. Free and with Him. Amen.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Deuteronomy 4:36-40

God loves us so much He chooses our children because of how much He loves us. Or our parents (the grandparents). He remembers how much He loves someone and thinks ‘Hey, I think I’ll choose this descendant because I remember __ and boy did they Bless Me!’ Amen and WOW. You want one better? God chose the entire bloodline of Abraham because Abraham was His friend. That’s amazing. God loves those who love Him for thousands of generations. Thousands. That’s love. That’s also responsibility. We are not running this race just for us. We’re running it for those who come after us. We’re running it in ways we don’t even realise. We can take the corrections and sacrifices and submission that is required to remain in the Lord, yoked to Him, abiding in Him, all of the stuff that is necessary to put down the flesh and live by His Spirit. We can take all of that and think of it as about us and God. Or we could take all that and think about it as about us and all the generations after us. Was Abraham chosen because he was in and of himself a good man? Or was he chosen because he was a good man who worshipped the Lord and was so forward thinking that he HAD to pass on what he knew about what it was to follow the Lord? Because Abraham’s grandson was the first to call the Lord a Shepherd. Abraham’s kids and his kid’s kids knew who Yahweh was. God loves us individually, collectively, and generationally. Isn’t it about time we started running this race generationally too? Think forward as you think heavenward. And just see what God can do with your family. Now and generations from now. God’s love knows no bounds.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.