Fear No Fear

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

But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant. Don’t be dismayed, Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet, and at ease. No one will make him afraid.
Jeremiah 46:27 (emphasis added)

How many of you have said something more than once to your kids in order for them to ‘get it’. Not even do it, but simply hear and understand. How many of you have had to have something repeated to you? Just to take it in, not even because you didn’t hear it the first time. Though that happens too. We as human beings seem to have an issue hearing. We have sayings upon sayings about the repetitive nature of instruction. Meme after meme about people who can’t seem to connect the dots between other people’s mouths and their ears. It seems to be part of the fallen human condition. And here we are having been told we’d be as gods (Genesis 3:4-5). Like so much else about the Fall of Humankind, we lost our perfect hearing in our quest to have more — even though we already had it all.

I have to wonder whether before the Fall we didn’t need to hear in order to have faith. It says in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” It has been said that fear is Adam’s faith, perverted by the Fall. If that is true, then that instinctual fight-or-flight fear response was once a faith response. Can you imagine that? Whenever something happened, no spike of fear. No gasps. Instead a flush of certainty. Of authority. Pure. Without anger or fear or anything. Just BAM capability to subdue anything that was out of place or reward whatever was working as it should. But we lost that in the Fall when sin came to dominate our nature. We lost that and got our hearing split into our minds and our hearts. Now we can’t hear with our hearts without hearing first with our minds. Our minds are limited by what our ears hear.
Our ears are one of the things that get attacked the most — can’t you see why? We are bombarded with confusing speeches, conflicting facts, changing facts, opposing opinions, dissent, strife, plain old stupidity, and that’s only the oral part of it. Then we have physical ailments, damage from noise, and damage from violence — innocent and not. It makes you wonder why. Why are our ears so important? If you read the Word it builds your faith as much, doesn’t it? Or does it? What is so special about hearing?

What’s so special is that our brains are wired for sound. Speech sounds, noise sounds, all sounds. Our brains light up in many ways from sound. A lot of information (word, music, or just a sound) can be conveyed. In fact, our brains are so hardwired for understanding speech that if a brainwave recorded when a brain hears a phrase is played back at you, you can actually understand the speech behind that brainwave. Did you get that? Even the pattern of a word has meaning to us. That means our hearing is a powerful tool for us. No wonder faith can be built by hearing the Word of God. If an ordinary sound or human speech can light up our brains, imagine what the Word of God is doing. And that’s just the natural, not the spiritual aspect of things.

This is why bible study fails. This is why you can read the same bible stories for decades and suddenly get something new. This is why you can preach the same verses year after year but always glean new insight from them. The spiritual aspect of hearing is all important. You can hear with your mind and the words are just words. Yes, they will do something to you because the Word of God will always light up your brain. But there is a real difference when you hear it with intent. When we read on purpose. To hear the voice of Jesus on the pages. To hear the bible as Jesus’ diary. As His love letter to His beloved. As His self-help Guide to The Creation. As His textbook for leadership, counselling, agriculture, the medical profession, child rearing, education, relationships, and discipleship. When we hear with intent, under the guidance of Holy Spirit, we are able to hear with our hearts. When we hear with our hearts, that is when real impact and change occurs. That is when our lives are shifted. That is when we are renewed from the inside out. That is when the Word is more than words (Proverbs 4:20-23). Faith comes by hearing (spiritual, intentional hearing), and hearing (mental, natural hearing) by the Word of God. It takes both for us to truly get it. For us to understand the Word is a dialogue between a parent and a child. A conversation not just to impart information, but to rear. To nurture. To grow us into who we can truly be.

That makes it vital — absolutely vital — for us to pay attention when the Lord repeats Himself. Don’t get me wrong. It is ALWAYS important to listen to the Lord. But when He repeats something? It is H-U-G-E. This verse (Jeremiah 46:27) is an almost exact duplicate of Jeremiah 30:10. After the first time (when the people were fearing Babylon), the city was captured and many taken back to Babylon, and a governor put into place. He was the one telling them they could live without fear. Rebels killed him. Others, fearing the reprisal of Babylon, wanted to flee to Egypt. They asked Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord. He did. The Lord said don’t go to Egypt. They didn’t believe that and went anyway — taking Jeremiah with them. So God told Jeremiah He was going to let Babylon destroy Egypt too. If the Lord’s people were going to disobey direct instruction, the Lord’s people were not going to escape from their punishment. If they were going to run from the blessing of the Lord — kidnapping His prophet in the bargain — it was going to be held against them as doing wrong. Since they had done wrong, there was a price, and they were going to pay it — remember this was in the Old Covenant. They had no way to remit their sins, only to cover them for a time. We are saved from that (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus died and rose again to forever pay that price to that no human being would ever be in the position of having to atone for sin again – Jesus atoned for all sin for all humanity for all time (1 John 2:2).

Back to Jeremiah. There they were in Egypt. Thought they’d avoided a problem. Now here is the prophet telling them the problem is still coming. They’re still going to have to face it. What was God’s response to them? Remember, they had disobeyed Him in the first place. Then they sought His instructions and disobeyed them completely. What did God do? Old Covenant God? He repeated His promise. He repeated that He had mercy and He was going to extend it. He repeated that they were going to suffer for a time (the price of sin), but that they would be saved. Their children would be saved. Jacob would return to the promised land. And would have no reason to fear. God is merciful. And the Lord’s Mercy endures forever (Psalm 118).

He has said it much more than twice. Are you hearing? Are you hearing with your heart? May the Lord God of Heaven heal your spiritual ears. May He open them today. Hear His Word. Believe them. Receive them. Walk in them. There is NOTHING better in life than walking with the Lord in His Word. I don’t care if you’ve read through the bible twelve times. I don’t care if you’ve listened to thousands of hours of teaching and prophecy. All of that has real, serious value. But the Word heard intentionally will change you in ways nothing else can. Walking with the Word will alter your life and take you into spiritual places you cannot reach by any other means. Walking with the Word will bring victory and revelation into your spirit that you have to experience to truly believe. Take Jesus’ hand and enter the Father’s Kingdom with His Spirit inside you (Hebrews 4:16). Rejoice and be glad (Matthew 5:12). He has saved you from afar. Walk with the Word in the cool of the evening, in the first blush of the morning, and in the sweet dark of the night. Keep it before you. Treasure it in your heart. And let Jesus revolutionise your life.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: John 10:1-18

Jesus was fully man, but He also had Holy Spirit inside Him and was fully God. He had — by right of His sinless nature — complete authority to do as He wished, just like Adam had. Jesus always chose the will of the Father. Jesus came to earth to die for us. But He didn’t have to. He could have changed His mind. Jesus could have chosen not to believe He was God’s only son, chosen not to die on the cross, chosen not to follow the plan that the Trinity decided on before the world was made. He could have. Jesus was fully man. He had free choice just like us. But Jesus submitted to the Father. He chose to lay down His life. He chose to believe that God was His Father. He chose to walk in obedience and mercy and love. He chose it — knowing the price. That is love. What love the Father has for us! What love has the Holy Spirit! What love had Jesus! What love He still has, alive and sitting in Heaven, and coming back again! What amazing love. It takes the full nature of Jesus Himself to comprehend the love God has for us. With Mercy by Faith, through Grace, Jesus gives us that nature. And we get to spend all of eternity plumbing the depths of God’s love. Eternity has already started if you’re born again. We can now – today – know the hope of His calling and the riches of His glory (Ephesians 1). Praise God for that! Start meditating on the love of the Lord today!

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.