Fear No Fear

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

For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for their noise, so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.
Isaiah 31:4 (emphasis added)

This was Jerusalem’s hour of need. The Assyrians were coming. The Assyrians were coming. Israel had already been carted off as prisoners (2 Kings 18:9). King Hezekiah of Judah had already paid off the Assyrians (2 Kings 18:14). But the king came anyway (vs. 17). Here they were. Outnumbered. Out charioted. Hezekiah was thinking of getting Egypt to come to the rescue. To pay into an alliance and get them to save Judah. The nation had not been following God completely. Hezekiah had done pretty good. When he took over as king he broke down idol altars. He followed Yahweh. But at this time God refers to the people of Judah as rebellious children (Isaiah 30:1). They were looking to Egypt for help, not the Lord. They had fallen away from following the Lord. And the Lord was asking them a simple question: why don’t you trust me?

This is a question for every believer in every age. Why don’t we trust the Lord? Why are we putting our time and our effort into other things? Why are the systems and leaders of this world the ones we look to to get us out of our jams? Why do we bemoan social services (or the lack thereof)? We spend thousands of dollars on insurance, but we spend no time on our knees. We have a bill that is overdue and we pray asking for help, but then head out and start begging, borrowing, or working triple shifts to earn the money to pay it. Did we seek the Lord or just throw a prayer? Maybe there was a different job He wanted us to do. Maybe He had a totally different plan. We prayed, but we didn’t listen or pay attention to the answer. Where is the trust in that?

The world at this moment has a lot of chaos in it. No matter what is going right, there is so much more going not as right. We are always on the brink of something. Riding the edge of the knife, we’re starting to be cut deep. Natural disasters, wars, social upheaval, litigation, political shifts and scandals, and a going over to poor morals. This is the theme of the world. What feels good is what should be done. It can be scary. Either system after system after system is going to crash and burn, or they’re going to shift to a completely new form (not necessarily a good one). The world cannot sustain what it has built. These can be scary times.

If the electronic systems crash, many companies will go down. Digital assets will be at risk or will cease to be. All the connectivity that the world has been pushing for the last twenty years will leave us lost. Unplugged with nowhere to go and nowhere to post our selfies. What will the young generations do? They’ve never existed without a digital net below them. What about all the electronic currency? Will it still exist? What will we do when we can reach no one more distant than the sound of our voice?

If the financial systems crash, what will we do? All that money in the bank means nothing if the bank can’t maintain itself. All that money means less than nothing if it has no intrinsic value. The systems of the world are no longer built on real assets (such as gold), but totally made up figures and amounts. Worldwide governmental bankruptcy is a real threat. Inflation is out of control. You may have thousands of dollars of cash on hand, but if it has no value then you won’t be able to get a loaf of bread with it. Your house may be your nest egg, but if property values tank you’ll be stuck living in it.

When all is said and done, there is little to help in this world. Everything hinges on something else. It is a wavering, wobbling, house of cards. No matter how fancy, how tall, or even how secure, it is still just a deck of cards. Blow on it and it will fall. Bump the table and it is a pile on your place mat. We put such value and trust in what we see. What we can touch, and see, and interact with. Why? What makes reality so real? Only our perceptions. We are flesh and ‘here’, so it must be real. If we can’t measure it, quantify it, or replicate it, we don’t believe it. We take what is in front of us as real, and dismiss everything else as flights of fancy or foolishness.

If we believe in the Lord, why don’t we trust Him? Has something changed? Is God no longer able to do things? Has his battery run dry? The storehouses of heaven empty? The weapons dull and the soldiers’ retirement age? Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 tell us that God doesn’t change. That Jesus can be relied on to be constant. The God who parted the Red Sea was the same God that walked on the water. The God that led the Israelites out of Egypt with mighty demonstrations of sovereignty and power was the same God that laid the people down in grassy places to feed them all with a few fish and some loaves. The God who told Abraham exactly what his descendants would do hundreds of years in the future is the same God who sees what the stock market is doing. Either the Lord can do things or He can’t. Either the Lord is using His mighty hand or He won’t. Either He knows the end from the beginning, or He doesn’t. Is He a doer, an accomplisher, an overcomer? Or is He a maybe-er? An if it feels like it-er? A beg me and we’ll see-er?

The Lord did mighty acts of deliverance in the Old Testament. The Lord did mighty acts in the New Testament. The Lord is still doing mighty acts today. Mankind may have decided that the apostolic age has ended, but God is moving and active. He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t stopped. He moves and moves and moves. He is seeking to save us, restore us, protect us, and fellowship with us. He also seeks to correct us, lift us up, bring us into alignment with Him. He is wise and holy and righteous. He is far above us. He is our sustainer and provider and firm foundation. Isn’t He? If the answer is yes, then we need to start acting like it.

When a lion would prey on the herd, it would cart off its prize. When the shepherds saw this they would rush over and yell. Bang their staves on the rocks and scream and try to drive it off. But often the lions would stand over the prey and roar. No intention of leaving. Defending its kill against all comers – beast or man. The Lord was speaking to Judah and saying this is how I am going to be. I will stand over you and roar out my defiance against everyone coming against you – be it man, doctrine, or the supernatural. He was saying that He would not be moved no matter how loud the show. What was in His hand would remain in His hand. Has God changed?

It isn’t about us sitting back and letting God do it all. It isn’t about us going out and performing a particular action or job. It is about what God wants us to do. Is He going to do a supernatural thing, or are we to take a natural action? He works in both ways. What is it He wants from us? He gave us dominion here on earth, that’s true (Genesis 1:26). But Jesus is uplifted above all dominion (Ephesians 1:20-22). We’re to seek His will. We read the Word with intent. To discover Jesus in every verse on every page. But we are also to read with the intent to submit to what we find. Not to like only the parts we think are nice. The parts where we get stuff but don’t have to do any changing. The parts that agree with our own ideas of life and morality. The easy bits. No. That is not how we walk in victory. “Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). We don’t get to resist the devil with any effectiveness until we are subject to God. Letting Him rule. Following what He says. Renewing ourselves in His Word.

2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that we live by faith, not sight. By eager expectation that God will do what He says. By manifested obedience. By standing on what God said no matter what we see around us. Relying on humanity will always be a mistake, but if we trust in the Lord we have safety and firm footing (Proverbs 29:25). We need to be leaning on His understanding of these things He created, not ourselves and what we remember from our time in school (Proverbs 3:5-6). Jeremiah 17:7-9 says “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?” The very thing that we use to gauge things (our heart) isn’t trustworthy. But God is.

We’re to trust Him with our whole heart. To put Him first and foremost in all things. Do you have a problem? Take it to the Lord. Do you have depression? Leave it with Him. You’re anxious about something? Get it to Him and then stop thinking about it. Whole heart. Where is our faith? Where are we looking to for a solution? What are we training our children up into? What is the example that we are showing them? That the Lord can be trusted in all things, but I hope Congress is going to pass that bill or we’re screwed? Again, it doesn’t mean that we won’t be called to get out there and use some elbow grease. This isn’t about what we will or won’t do, it is about making sure we are doing or not doing what the Lord wants us to do.

If the Lord is the driver of our lives, we shouldn’t backseat drive. The oxen don’t tell the farmer which furrow to plough. The horses don’t tell the coach where the road is. The bullet doesn’t tell the gun where to aim. Do we need reassurance about what the Lord is doing? The Word is there to guide us. The Holy Spirit is there to comfort us. If we trust in the Lord, we have done what we are supposed to do. If we trust in anything else, we are rebelling. It’s as simple as that. There are no grey areas here. We need to stop blindly flailing about and learn to trust. Learn to ask Him first what we should do – and then obey. If He says stock up on beans, stock up on beans. If He says don’t worry about it, don’t stock up on beans. Let Him guide you. He isn’t being taken by surprise by any of this. Let Him into your life and listen.

Trust isn’t blind. The Lord asks us to test all things we hear against His Word (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The Lord is looking for partners (Matthew 19:26). Men and women who will join hands and do with Him. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” On a sabbath in a time of upheaval Nehemiah records “Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for today is holy to our Lord. Don’t be grieved, for the joy of Yahweh is your strength”” (Nehemiah 8:10). Don’t be troubled. Don’t be grieved. Be of good cheer. Don’t be dismayed. Don’t fear. These words are commanded again and again throughout the Word. When are we going to start believing this stuff?

If we are trusting Him. If we are turning to Him before we turn to anyone or anything else. If we are listening to His voice. If we are obedient to the will of the Father, then what will stand against us? The Lord God Himself will stand over us and roar. He will protect us. He will not be shaken. He will not be dismayed. He will not be dissuaded. The enemy can rant and rail. The enemy can break all his toys in a fit of pique. The Lion of Judah stands unafraid. And we can too. In Jesus. Walk in it.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Isaiah 26:2-4

When engineers build something they test it. They test it before they build, during the build, and after the build. When they declare it done, they walk away and let the public in. They don’t stop there. They’ll come and test it after a while to make sure that it is still structurally sound. The Lord knows that trouble besets us. He knows that more and more is arriving every day. There are plots within plots within plots to trip us up, choke us, and make us yoke ourselves to fear. Don’t yoke to fear – especially when it looks like we’re being safe. Yahweh has built Himself as a strong city. Walls and bulwarks surround it. He is our everlasting rock. Our dependable one. The only thing that isn’t shifting around. Don’t trust the systems of the world. Don’t listen to their advice – no matter how good it is. Rely on the Lord for advice. For recommendations. He is our creator. He knows how we work better than anyone and He isn’t blinded in any way. He won’t steer you wrong. He won’t prank you. Listen to His voice and do what He says, not how it appears in the natural. He is everlasting, He is loving, He is correcting, and He is ever-merciful. You can’t go wrong with Him.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.