Fear No Fear

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

“‘Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. The hyrax, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. The hare, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you. The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.”
(Leviticus 11:4-8)

“In God, I will praise his word.
    In Yahweh, I will praise his word.
I have put my trust in God.
    I will not be afraid.
    What can man do to me?
Your vows are on me, God.
    I will give thank offerings to you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
    and prevented my feet from falling,
    that I may walk before God in the light of the living.“
(Psalm 56:10-13)

“For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you in marriage to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we didn’t preach, or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different “good news” which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well enough. For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles. But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.“
(2 Corinthians 11:2-6)

The instructions about dietary laws weren’t about being clean or unclean as in healthy versus unhealthy, per se. It was about the spiritual principles of purity and defilement. Like the Tree in the garden that was in Eden, these are restrictions to set them apart from all those cultures around them. To make them unique upon this Earth. They are as important as avoiding incest and idolatry. The creatures forbidden for food were also forbidden for sacrificial or ritual purposes. This was about a spiritual or moral state of being. A chosen restriction to ensure that they were humbly submitted to God, free in their restriction to His point of view – no matter His reasons.

Paul also was pointing out restrictions. The restriction of our focus. The restriction of our spiritual selves to the Lord Jesus, not loose-moraled people who chase after anything that seeks to turn our heads. It wasn’t about individuals being good or bad as people, but rather about whether their teaching promoted Jesus and our proper focus on Him and the Father, or whether they encouraged a ‘bending’, a shifting, and any kind of move away from the doctrine of Jesus that they had received from an upright and trustworthy source. They needed to remain humbly submitted to God, regardless of what anyone said. They KNEW the truth and needed to hold to it.

David knew this principle well. He cried for favour from God, for mercy. He didn’t do it because he felt deserving of it. Quite the opposite. He did it in spite of not feeling worthy. He held to the truth of God’s undeserved kindness, confident that God would protect him. He refused to listen to what the people around him said. He refused to give into despair at the prospect of being injured, imprisoned, or killed. He stayed humbly submitted to God’s will – no matter WHAT it was – without explanation or guarantees, simply because he knew God’s moral character and trusted in it. He knew the truth of who God was and nothing and no one could get him to back off of that revelation.

Summary

When God restricts us in some way, it isn’t because He is automatically saying the restricted thing is bad. Sometimes they are in and of themselves good. That isn’t the issue. It is about willingness to submit to God. We need to see things from His point of view, no matter what WE see or those around us see. We need to choose to humbly submit, without explanation if necessary, permanently or for a season, to any restrictions He brings to our hearts through Holy Spirit and His Word. We do this to help us keep our eyes focused on Him and our ears focused on Him. When we are submitted to Him, nothing else matters. When we hear and accept what He says to us, nothing else matters. When He is our focus and our God and our King, we need to keep from having ANYTHING or ANYONE take our focus off of Him. He is our God and He should be whom we listen to. No matter what. We ALWAYS know it’s in our best interests because the Word clearly and repeatedly shows us His moral character and His great love for us.