Fear No Fear

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

“They met Moses and Aaron, who stood along the way, as they came out from Pharaoh. They said to them, “May Yahweh look at you and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”“
(Exodus 5:20-21)

“Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
    who ate bread with me,
    has lifted up his heel against me.“
Psalm 41:9

“When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.” But Peter answered him, “Even if all will be made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Most certainly I tell you that tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” All of the disciples also said likewise. . . . But all this has happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.”
(Matthew 26:30-35, 56)

The Israelites felt that Moses had betrayed them. David’s close friend (perhaps Ahithophel – 2 Samuel 15:31). Jesus was betrayed by Judas and then abandoned by all His closest disciples. The hurt of betrayal can hit anyone. When we start out on something – especially something we have been called by God to do – it does not mean we are immune to betrayal. God doesn’t tell us all the bumps in the road. He doesn’t tell us about everything that will come against us. And it’s easy to lose our enthusiasm. Even Moses cried out asking why God had bothered to send him in the first place because he had only made everything worse. But if you flip back a bit to Moses’ encounter on the mountain, or you look at what Jesus told His disciples, you’ll see God was more than one step ahead.

God tells us that the road is not smooth. He warns us of troubles that can appear – without giving us details. And He ALWAYS tells us that if we hold to Him and what He says, that it will be right in the end. That’s right from HIS point of view. We’re here for a mission. Some of those missions are hard. Some are deadly. None are without issues. But if we will rely on the Lord and lean into our trust in Him, we can be up with Him instead of lost in our feelings. He can lift us above the situation into His perspective. We can be honoured by Him, regardless of what it looks like to anyone else.

Summary

Troubles do not mean God is being thwarted. They do not mean God is not in charge. And they do not mean that we will lose. Troubles are natural happenings in a creation that has fallen. But if we listen to Him we’ll find His promises never to leave us. We’ll find His promises to empower us. We’ll find His promises to lift us up. We’ll find that He is in charge, He has a plan, and that He will ALWAYS will through in the end = because He has ALREADY won!