Fear No Fear

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

“Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers and went over to Shechem; and the men of Shechem put their trust in him. They went out into the field, harvested their vineyards, trod the grapes, celebrated, and went into the house of their god and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal? Isn’t Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him? I wish that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech.” He said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out!” When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger burned. He sent messengers to Abimelech craftily, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem; and behold, they incite the city against you. Now therefore, go up by night, you and the people who are with you, and lie in wait in the field. It shall be that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, you shall rise early and rush on the city. Behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, then may you do to them as you shall find occasion.””
(Judges 9:26-33)

“In my distress, I cried to Yahweh.
    He answered me.
Deliver my soul, Yahweh, from lying lips,
    from a deceitful tongue.
What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you,
    you deceitful tongue?
Sharp arrows of the mighty,
    with coals of juniper.
Woe is me, that I live in Meshech,
    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
My soul has had her dwelling too long
    with him who hates peace.
I am for peace,
    but when I speak, they are for war.”
(Psalm 120)

The ungodly cannot seem to help themselves. They cannot keep their tongues from slandering one another. They are consistently marked by strife. Again and again. Wanting to take control over one another. Wanting advantage over one another. Picking sides and infighting until full conflict breaks out and only one side is left standing – after all of them lose something. This is not the peace that God promises. This is not the rest He wills for each and every one of us. This is human selfishness let loose. This is havoc heading to chaos. It is always the result of trusting in ourselves and not the Lord.

When we find ourselves in the midst of that kind of thinking, it can be painful. Hard to see and hard to navigate. But God is there for the godly. God helps us to retrain our minds with His Word so that we can start seeing people and situations from His point of view. Viewing them (and ourselves) in the light of His moral character. The closer we get to God, the more we notice the brokenness of the world and its thinking. The more we notice the brokenness around us, the more we can appreciate the wholeness and peace that is the natural result of getting close to God.

Summary

God is our deliverance from the slander that surrounds us. It doesn’t matter if it is directed at us or simply that we are surrounded by people who lean into slander and the strife it brings. We serve THE God who is TRUE. We can hang onto God like an anchor, providing us stability in an ever-shifting world. It can help us see reason, see the objective truth, and the dangers of the slippery slope of idolizing feelings. He answers us when we cry to Him. When we choose to embrace the truth and refrain from participating in anything but the truth, there is a peace and a firmness to that peace that sustains us.