Fear No Fear

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

“When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David, but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” Yahweh said to David, “Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into your hand.” David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “Yahweh has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim. They left their images there, and David and his men took them away.”
(2 Samuel 3:31-39)

“Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns,
    he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
    He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
so that men shall say, “Most certainly there is a reward for the righteous.
    Most certainly there is a God who judges the earth.””
(Psalm 58:9-11)

Much like Abraham, David saw that his fortunes and his being raised as king was not for HIS benefit, but for the blessing of the people (2 Samuel 5:12). Although he later forgot to hold onto that perspective, in these chapters we see it in evidence. David doesn’t do what he might want or what’s best for himself. He seeks the Lord to see what the Lord wants. He inhabits the position that God puts him in and seeks to do the best he can. There are small missteps and some seeds best left unplanted (the gathering of many wives, for example), but overall David seeks the Lord’s will and walks it. As a result of his obedience and desire to serve the Lord, the wicked are unable to stand against him. David has the opportunity to do the wrong thing, but he refuses it. He honours Saul’s family publicly. He refuses to reward wrong behaviour. He refuses to fight without the Lord’s direction. He stays under the Lord’s protection and as such, gets to witness the victory of the Lord over the wicked again and again.

We are not called to do the things. We are called to find out what things God wants us to do. It is not always easy to leave things in the Lord’s lap. Like toddlers obsessed with something, we tend to crawl up and snatch the objects, situations, stresses, and relationships back from where we put them. That is not our calling. We are to leave things with the Lord and let HIM call the shots. Let HIM guide our steps. Let HIM coordinate the miracles, the rescues, and the advances. When we do that. When we choose to trust in Him. When we give ourselves permission to let HIM be God and no one and nothing else. THAT is when we witness victory. THAT is when we experience breakthrough. THAT is when we can eagerly expect the goodness of the Lord to shine out.

Summary

Unlike David, we have Holy Spirit living within us. We don’t need to ask for the Lord to hear us. We KNOW He hears us. We don’t need to travel to heaven, we stand before the Mercy Seat. What we DO need to do is to trust in the Lord. To trust what we hear from Him. To trust what we read in the Word (which will never contradict what He says and vice versa). When we put our hand in God’s hand, NOTHING is impossible. When God is in the driver’s seat, we ALWAYS reach our destination. We might get lost in the woods, but the Lord NEVER does. He ALWAYS knows what is best and He NEVER steers us wrong. Trusting in Him takes effort. It takes belief. It takes a stretching of the muscles of our heart and our spirit. But He is right there with us to lead us through. We will be a witness to the goodness of the Lord when we trust in Him and let Him bless us so we can bless others. If we love Him, it becomes so very simple. Let Him lead.