Fear No Fear

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

For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103:14

There’s an old Simpsons episode where Moe Szylak the Bartender is talking about being compared to dirt. His response is golden: ‘Well, I’m better than dirt. Well, most kinds of dirt. I mean not that fancy store bought dirt. That stuff’s loaded with nutrients. I… I can’t compete with that stuff.’ It is an accurate look at humanity. We are dirt. But not that fancy store bought dirt. We’re just dirt from the ground. What we are made of is not what makes us special. There’s always a group of New Age-ish/spiritualist people who spread the call that we’re all made of star-stuff. As if being made of the components of burning balls of gas somehow makes us ‘special’. We are in and of the material we are made of NOTHING SPECIAL. “what is a human being that you think of him? and a child of humankind that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4). We are dirt. What was DONE to that dirt is what makes us special.

“when Yahweh God formed the man of dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). Up until this point, everything in creation came forward because Adonai SPOKE. Look through the creation account. He SAID and it WAS. When it came to us, Adonai personally formed us. Himself. That is SPECIAL. That makes us UNIQUE in all creation. YES, we are dirt. But we are dirt that was personally touched by Yahweh Most High. He didn’t stop there. He then BREATHED Himself into us. The Living Spirit of the Most High was put into us. That is also UNIQUE among creation. We are NOT of the animal kingdom, even if we share some characteristics. Everything living has a soul (heart, mind, personality). Only HUMANITY has a spirit. Don’t let the world pull the wool over your eyes. We are NOT animals. We are NOT the same as the rest of creation. We do NOT have to behave like them and how they behave is NOT an indication of how we are supposed to. Humanity has ZERO animal impulses. Humanity has ZERO animal instincts. Humanity is on a whole other level because of what Adonai did to OUR dirt when He created us.

These are great reasons to be grateful to Him. We’re not stuck in the mold we see around us. We are not stuck giving into to instincts and impulses we ‘have no control over’ or that have been ‘developed over eons’ like fight-or-flight. Humanity doesn’t have a fight-or-flight system. We have a faith-or-fear system. In EVERY situation, we can either trust Jesus or go it alone. It is when we go it alone that we embrace the fallen world system and enter fight-or-flight. If we would trust Jesus in EVERY situation, having disciplined ourselves to Word up every day, worship Him every day, and keep our eyes on Him, we’d never feel those fight-or-flight symptoms. We’d experience the kind of authority in peace that Jesus had. That we were meant to have as guiding directors on this planet. Praise Adonai, we’re DIFFERENT. And in HIM, we can operate as we were meant to – Amen and Hallelujah.

All this uniqueness and personal touch by Adonai really drives home the first part of this verse. He KNOWS us. He knows us better than anything or anyone COULD know us. He knows more than the physical bits that together make up our form. He ALSO knows our imagination, mind, and works. He knows our thoughts (Romans 8:27) and our purpose (Job 23:10). He knows EVERYTHING about us. “Indeed you created my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it well” (Psalm 139:13-14). He knows us and that is not something to hide from or avoid. It is something to celebrate and encourage (Psalm 139:23). Why would we want to spend hours and hours of conversation (prayer) with someone who was unable to truly understand us? Isn’t it better to talk to those who really GET us? Even better then is talking with the One who knows us better than WE know ourselves. What a great thing to thank Him for! What a great relationship to be grateful for!

Adonai knows us and Adonai gives us GRACE and more GRACE because of it. We aren’t held to a standard that we cannot keep. Jesus did all the hard work for us. Jesus accomplished what needed to be accomplished. And Ruach HaKodesh is with us to remind us of that. Of who we are in Jesus. Of what He did. Of what WE are capable of IN HIM. What a GREAT GOD we serve! What a great Way He has made open for us to know Him! How WONDERFUL that He never forgets our limitations, never asks for more than we can give, and enables us to accomplish everything He calls us to in Messiah Jesus! The gratitude we feel from these things should rise up within us as praise every day. Stir yourself up and let it rise as sweet smelling incense to the One who crafted you so intentfully.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Psalm 78:38-39

“But he was compassionate; he pardoned their guilt and did not destroy them. And many times he turned back his anger and did not stir up all his wrath, for he remembered that they were flesh, a passing wind that does not return.” We serve a MERCIFUL God who loves us and looks out for us. He wants us to be where He created us to be. But we miss it. We don’t remain in Jesus. We get into our own selfish thoughts and ideas. We hear, but don’t obey. We stop up our ears and refuse to hear. We harden our hearts. These are things we do. Because we fell from where we were supposed to be. That’s why Jesus made the Way open to us. That’s why the Father gives us everything we need to succeed. That’s why Ruach HaKodesh encourages us, guides us, and corrects us. It is all to overcome what we let ourselves become: broken humans. But Adonai NEVER forgets that. He NEVER lets Himself forget it or treat us differently than we are capable of. Even in the covenant of judgment (the Law), He did not EVER give ALL His wrath toward Sin fall on the people. He ALWAYS held back. He ALWAYS showed mercy. He ALWAYS had grace. No matter what they DESERVED, they never got it. He is MINDFUL of us. He truly is a God who LOVES us. He is a God who makes a WAY for us. He is a God who GIVES us our place and doesn’t make us earn what we cannot earn. He REMEMBERS and extends GRACE and MORE GRACE to us each and every day. From His LOVE for us. 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