Fear No Fear

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

“We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls.”
(Deuteronomy 3:4-5)

“Jesus therefore said to them, “Children, have you anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” They cast it therefore, and now they weren’t able to draw it in for the multitude of fish.”
(John 21:5-6)

“See how good and how pleasant it is
    for brothers to live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
    that ran down on the beard,
    even Aaron’s beard,
    that came down on the edge of his robes,
like the dew of Hermon,
    that comes down on the hills of Zion;
    for there Yahweh gives the blessing,
    even life forever more.”
(Psalm 133)

King Og of Bashan was mighty. His cities and fortresses were well protected. There is no logical way that the Israelites, dusty nobodies walking around a desert, could run in and take all that territory. They had the ability to fight. They had clever military leaders (like Joshua and Moses). They could certainly defend themselves to a certain extent – they had fighting men and women capable of wielding weapons, as well as having weapons. But to take fortified cities with tall walls without a massive and trained military force with seige engines and all that? That was BEYOND them. But God told them (verse 2) not to fear. Not because THEY were awesome, but because GOD had delivered Og and Og’s kingdom into their hands. If they stayed with God and did as God said, they would have victory. Letting themselves be directed by God was the BEST way to live and succeed.

This is what the psalmist declares! How GREAT it is to live in unity with God. Brother to brother, sister to sister, joined in the Lord and seeking His will, obeying His commands, and taking on His moral character (Romans 12:2). It takes seeking God. It takes choosing to put down who we are and striving to rest in Jesus. To retrain ourselves until we agree with God. To align ourselves with His ideas, His decisions, and His instructions. If we will let God lead us, it will be like the dew in the morning that cools the Earth and waters the ground. It will be SUCH a blessing.

Peter wasn’t getting what HE wanted. He wasn’t seeing a way forward. So Peter went backward. He went back to his profession because that’s what we do. We rely on what WE know. At least we can do THAT since nothing else is going like we planned, right? But when they worked THEIR way, they didn’t get anything. However, Jesus had NOT abandoned them. They were NOT alone. There in Galilee, Jesus met them EXACTLY as He said He would (Matthew 26:32). Jesus gave them direction. He told them how to go about doing what they were doing HIS way. When they did, they got great success! When they allowed God to determine what they did, there was NO failure.

Summary

We can prove again and again that what WE can do may be okay, but it will have setbacks and failures. But when we DECIDE and DETERMINE to let Jesus call the shots, to let God determine WHAT we do, WHEN we do it, and HOW we do it; there is nothing but success. Now that success will ALWAYS be from HIS point of view. We might see something we THINK is a miss. But the results that come, the harvest of our seed of obedience, will ALWAYS be great. We might not see it right away. But we just might. We can be certain that no matter how high the walls, how mighty the force arrayed against us, how impossible the task, how empty the net; to God it is just another picnic spot (Psalm 23:5). It is another place where HE can show HIS glory, HIS ability, HIS strength, and HIS faithfulness. If we let Jesus lead, we will always be in a place of BLESSING where we can give God the GLORY because we KNOW that we KNOW that WE could do nothing and HE has done everything!