Fear No Fear

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

“When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel, and Yahweh answered him. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel. The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them until they came under Beth Kar.”
(1 Samuel 7:7-11)

“If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,
    let Israel now say,
if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side,
    when men rose up against us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
    when their wrath was kindled against us,
then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
    the stream would have gone over our soul.
Then the proud waters would have gone over our soul.
Blessed be Yahweh,
    who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.
Our soul has escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare.
    The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Our help is in Yahweh’s name,
    who made heaven and earth.”
(Psalm 124)

While this Psalm (124) is generally accepted to refer to the struggle of the Jews and Haman, advisor to Ahasuerus who took Esther as queen (Esther 1:1), it is applicable to many times in Israel’s history (such as today’s passage). Israel had come under the thumb of the Philistines (the five city-states that made up their territory) because they had forsaken the Lord and taken up with idols and ungodly worship practises. They were still sacrificing and using the tabernacle as a place of meeting, but they weren’t doing it with their whole hearts. God wasn’t involved. They were the only ones present. It was empty and meaningless. But when they resolved within themselves privately and as a nation publicly to strike down the idols and refuse to use the high places, choosing to return to whole-hearted worship of the Lord God Almighty, they put themselves back under His protection. They put themselves back under the Blessing. They put themselves in a place where God’s voice echoed out and demanded that the Philistines leave His children alone (Job 37:5; John 12:29; Psalm 29:3-9). God only used His VOICE – but it both delivered and protected people who were wholly devoted to Him.

God did not seek to make them prey for the nations around them. God did not seek for them to suffer misfortune. There was no lesson that He wanted them to learn. Instead, they were putting themselves to where the truth had no place. They were turning away from what they already should have known. But they were NOT left alone. God CONTINUED to call to them. God continued to use His prophet to speak to them, call to them, and encourage them to come back home to the Lord. When they did, they were delivered. He eagerly defended them and make the Earth shake on their behalf. THAT was what He had been waiting to do. THAT was what He was wishing to accomplish. It was the ENEMIES of His people that He wished to teach a lesson – one that they knew in their hearts (1 Samuel 6:6). One that we ALL should know. God protects His obedient children and NOTHING can stand against the Lord God.

Summary

God created creation. The parts that we can see and the parts that we cannot. He created the physical stuff and the spiritual stuff (the stuff of the heavens and the stuff of the earth – Genesis 1:1). Nothing that He created can stand against Him. Not people, not spirits, not angels or demons, not the devil, not the planets, not black holes, nothing. Nothing at all. He is above them all and more powerful by FAR than any of them. God is love. God is grace. God is mercy. God is all of that and extends them to US. When we lean into Him, accept our proper role and HIS proper role, when we humbly submit and choose to love Him (which means we will obey Him); there is nothing that He won’t do to protect and defend us. It may not look how we want it to. It may be something we have never even imagined. But He WILL do it because He protects His obedient children. This is our calling (1 Peter 1:13-16) and this is where – and how – we should live.