Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

And he made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find him. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us

Acts 17:26-27

Adonai is playful. He is God and Righteous and Mighty and Holy. He is also playful. He hides Himself. But He hides Himself like a father hides himself from a toddler or even an infant. Standing in the middle of a room with a napkin over his face. Squatting down behind a stuffed animal the size of a large coffee cup. Holding his hands over his face, without even covering it all up. Hiding in plain sight. Hiding, but hiding to ENSURE that he is found.

Adonai has hidden Himself so that we will look for Him. The world around us proclaims the glory of Adonai (Psalm 19:1-7; Romans 1:18-25). Since we can see His glory, we seek to see the He that the glory points to. It makes us crave to see the invisible since the visible points to Him so clearly. Every human being KNOWS there is a God. We seek Him. Sadly, we also frequently decide we want Him to be what WE want, enabling OUR behaviour, instead of learning to be like Him (Jeremiah 18:12). But we KNOW that we KNOW there is a God. We seek Him to find Him, He hides in plain sight to be found. It is NOT a hard journey. But it IS a journey we need to do with intent. On purpose. When we seek an encounter with I AM, we will receive one. He isn’t far away.

As New Covenant believers, Adonai is closer than ever. Since the ONLY way to stay in Jesus (John 15:5) is to use HIS tools consistently and constantly, Ruach HaKodesh is our coach, our guide, and our conductor. He makes sure we are always being told of the Way which we need to travel. Always shining His Light on the Path to see it, stay on it, and receive it. Without His constant talking to us, we could miss Him entirely – exactly like a baby crawling in circles around a father sitting in plain sight with legs tucked up on a chair. We just don’t look UP the way that we should (Psalm 123:1-3). Not unless we are listening to Him. Not unless we are obeying. Not unless we are LETTING ourselves be corrected.

Correction is not a BAD thing. It can be a warmer, warmer, colder, warmer, hot, hot, hot! thing directing our gaze to Him. It can be a gentle reminder, like caution turn ahead sign. It can be a rule with fair warning like a speed limit or a traffic light. It can be a swat on the rear to jar our attention back to His words. The level of correction is ALWAYS determined by the level of our LISTENING. If we LISTEN and submit in humbleness, we have a light correction. That stern finger or a ‘hey!’ directed our way. If we reject His words and refuse to hear, we’ll get a larger warning. The more we refuse to listen to our King, the more we NEED correction. He is our KING, not our elected official who represents us. We have NO SAY in the running of the Kingdom. We’re to do what HE wants, how HE wants, when HE wants, in the way HE wants. He is KING. Ultimate authority. That’s what salvation is all about. Accepting His place and submitting to that rightful chain of command, or rejecting Him as our rightful and righteous King (John 3:16-18). Correction is NOT punishment. It’s a reminder of our relative positions. He is our King.

Part of being close to Adonai is knowing our place vs His place. “Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). “which he will make known in his own time, the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of those who reign as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). Jesus is not just A king, but THE King of ALL kings. That’s quite a place. No matter how close He gets to us, He is still above us (John 3:31). The fact that THE Exalted One chooses to be in a Father position to us and a Bridegroom position to us, shows us how much He loves us. Neither position is dictatorial, but both positions are chain-of-command higher than us. We NEED to respect that. It is where our sense of reverence for our Saviour, Lord, and Friend comes from. There have been MANY rulers of this world with very close friends. But very FEW of those close friends forgot their place. Forgot they were a step below. We are the same way. We can be VERY close with Adonai, but we are a step below (Psalm 8:5) and I am GRATEFUL for it, because He is AWESOME.

We are invited to the intimacy of a marriage partner. We are invited to the close, get in His lap closeness and guidance of a Father. This is a HUGE privilege and NOT to be taken lightly. On our own, we could NEVER manage it. But in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21), we can. With the guidance and correction of Ruach HaKodesh, we can learn to both PRAISE Him and REVERE Him as we get intimate to Him. It is a wonderful and JOYFUL relationship IF we will listen to and follow the guidance of Ruach HaKodesh. Adonai is hiding from us, but in plain sight so that we will be curious, will seek, and will find Him. We will enter in if we’ll start looking. Grab Ruach HaKodesh’s hand and start searching. He isn’t far.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Psalm 100:4

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name” Our reverence for Adonai will create a desire in us to praise Him with thanksgiving for all He is and all He has done and all He is doing and all that He will do. If we know the character of Adonai, we can’t HELP ourselves. We MUST praise Him the way our bodies must breathe. It isn’t forced, demanded, or coerced. It is a natural reaction to knowing who He is. He sent Ruach HaKodesh to us to help us learn more about Him. Jesus came so that we would know and see the Father. Adonai wants us to enter His gates and His courts, and we do that in Jesus through praise. He gives us what inspires praise in our hearts. He makes sure that it is bubbling up inside us when we listen and learn about who He is. He makes sure we are able to do what He desires. In fact, He creates circumstances that encourage us to use His tools to accomplish what is best for us. He holds nothing back, but gives us EVERYTHING we need. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8