Fear No Fear

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

“Yahweh your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken. Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. Yahweh will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them, for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.””
(Deuteronomy 31:3-6)

“The heart of the righteous weighs answers,
    but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil.
Yahweh is far from the wicked,
    but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
(Proverbs 15:28-29)

“Yahweh, you have searched me,
    and you know me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up.
    You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
    but behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
You hem me in behind and before.
    You laid your hand on me.“
(Psalm 139:1-5)

God is NOT and has NEVER been a God APART from us. He has ALWAYS sought for us to be WITH Him. As you read through the Word, you can see the separation that we make from Him. Every time humanity pulled away, God met them where they were. The Israelites had refused to hear the voice of God directly (Exodus 20:19), so God spoke through Moses. Now Moses wasn’t going to cross with them, so God was assuring them that He was NOT going to leave them. He was STILL going to be there. Through Joshua. Through the priests. He was GOING WITH THEM. They would NOT be alone. He would NOT abandon them. He would stick with them and continue their relationship – if they would walk with Him in His ways.

God LISTENS to those who are seeking Him. Those who are obeying Him. Those who love Him (because IF we love Him we WILL obey Him – John 14:15). The only prayer He ‘hears’ from sinners is the prayer accepting salvation. He is still there and still merciful, but He is a JUST God. It is those who accept Him, live for Him, love Him, and are obedient to Him that He converses with. He doesn’t just listen to us. He speaks WITH us. He is a God who is WITH us and He communicates WITH those who love Him and obey His Word.

A result of God being WITH us is that He KNOWS us. We aren’t putting one over on Him. He sees EVERYTHING. What we have deep in our heart, our thoughts, our words, our actions, everything. He knows us better than we know ourselves. This is someone we can TRUST with EVERYTHING because He already knows EVERYTHING. His hedge around us is for OUR benefit. Knowing us so well, He knows what protection we need, where the protection is needed, and when the protection is needed. We can TOTALLY and ABSOLUTELY trust the One who is WITH us, who KNOWS us, and who wants the BEST for us. No matter WHAT we are facing, He already has the solution and will be WITH us throughout.

Summary

God wants us to know Him as intimately as He knows us. He wants us to be well acquainted with His moral character. He wants us to be well versed in His point of view. He wants us to rely on Him for our solutions and to fight our battles. He is WITH us and wants us to be WITH Him. Not separate in our thinking, in our words, in our actions, or in our reliance for our source material (the source of our emotions, guidance, correction, relationships, possessions, etc). He knows us better than we know ourselves, so we can’t wave Him off because of some perceived fault or unworthiness. He makes us worthy in Himself – that’s Grace. He sees everything and is standing beside us through it all, so we can’t wave Him off because of some perceived misconduct or sinful behaviour. He is there to help us repent and change our thinking from disobedient to obedient – that’s Mercy. He is everything we need, could want, or properly desire. He is there WITH us. We need to stand on the Word and be there WITH Him.