Fear No Fear

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

When the wind passes over it, it is no more, and its place knows it no longer.

Psalm 103:16

This verse can be depressing without realising what it rests on. Remember context. The last few verses and the next few verses provide the platform this verse rests on. On its own, it is showing how temporary and fragile we are. Just wind passing over can cause us to cease. To be forgotten. To end. We can easily be lost in the passage of time. A futile scrabbling about in the mud. Muck to muck. Dust to dust. Done and gone. That IS life outside of Adonai. But the platform this verse rests on shows us so much more, so much victory, and so much to be grateful for.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything” (John 15:5). In Jesus, we have life and purpose and abundance and joy and everything that is worth anything of real value. “If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:6). Outside of Jesus there is nothing of lasting value, nothing worth doing, no purpose, darkness, and a lot of futility. We will have lost our place – like the devil before us (Revelation 12:8). Lost in the wind of the words he throws around (Ephesians 6:11). Because our PLACE, our PURPOSE, is to bring Adonai glory (1 Corinthians 10:31; Proverbs 3:6). When we know our place, thanksgiving bubbles up out of it.

“what is a human being that you think of him? and a child of humankind that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4). We’ve looked at that question before, but it is PERFECT compliment to this verse. What IS a human being when it is passed over by wind? What is a child of humankind when it doesn’t even know its place? When it spends ACTUAL TIME asking ‘why are we here’? I think THAT is the most baffling thing of all to angels. That we spend ANY TIME trying to figure out why we are here. What our place in creation is. Inanimate objects have figured it out better than we have (Psalm 19:1). Animals have it figured out better than we have (Revelation 5:13). WE – the top of the ‘ol food chain – WE spend time wondering. I think the basis of that wondering is the selfish flesh actually asking: ‘how can we find a place to inhabit without submitting to anyone or anything?’ It’s ironic that only the glory of Adonai within us (created in His image and likeness) that gives us any real worth (because we’re dirt apart from His breath), but that perceived worth is the source of our selfish pride – which is broken and twisted because it isn’t OUR glory, but HIS within us that we are perceiving in the first place.

The knowledge that we are useless on our own is very freeing. Yes, we can make beautiful things. Yes, we can exhibit wonderful character. Yes, we can create an artificial system to function within and then thrive within it. But it is ALL paper tigers without Him. It isn’t a shadow on a cave wall, it is the shadow THAT shadow is casting. That doesn’t SOUND very victorious, I know. But it is a source of GREAT gratefulness in my life. If I know NOTHING, I can take solace that HE knows everything. If I can’t make anything productive, I know that HE is the source of productivity. If I am USELESS, then He – as my Source – is where I get EVERYTHING. I don’t despair that I am grass waiting to be blown by wind. I can put roots in Him, look to Him for all I need, and live within HIS embrace. I am thankful I have a reason to put my false pride in its place. I am thankful that I have a reason to put out my selfish self- centredness. I am thankful I can RELY.

When we were little kids, we didn’t know anything. We didn’t know algebra. We didn’t know how to change a tire. Cook a meal. World history. We knew nothing. But then we were taught. By family, friends, neighbours, the educational system. We were taught so much, we do it automatically now. We know how to function. We don’t need to ask how every time something approaches now. My son recently answered a phone for the first time. He hadn’t grown up with a phone on the wall. Or in a household where we got a lot of calls. He pressed the button and waited for something to happen. Didn’t say help. Didn’t make a sound. Just listened and waited. He had to be taught to say ‘hello’. Well friend, it happens the same way with Adonai. If we will answer with a hello of praise and thanksgiving, He will teach us EVERYTHING (John 14:26). He’ll teach it through Ruach HaKodesh, and we’ll learn it so well that it will become automatic. Not so we can stop learning, but so Ruach HaKodesh can teach us even more. It’s more than being grateful. It’s being EXCITED to be in Him. It’s being EXCITED to spend more time with Him. I am SO grateful to Him. Aren’t you?

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: James 1:5

“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask for it from God, who gives to all without reservation and not reproaching, and it will be given to him.” It can be embarrassing to have to ask to be shown something. We don’t all have the same backgrounds. Some things will be second-nature to one person, but brand new for something else. We can be very old when we first learn some skills. And it can be embarrassing to have to admit we don’t know how to do something. But with Adonai, that is NEVER an issue. Ruach HaKodesh is THE teacher and the IMPARTER of information. The Word is just letters on a page until we get revelation knowledge about what it means. Until Ruach HaKodesh teaches us what He wrote and why. This isn’t NEW information or NEW revelation, it’s getting LIGHT on what was already there (Luke 24:45). We do NOT need to be ignorant. We do NOT need to be embarrassed. We can ASK and then RECEIVE (Matthew 7:7-8). He hid nothing FROM you or me. He hid it FOR you and me. 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