Fear No Fear

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

“So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” Now the men observed diligently and hurried to take this phrase; and they said, “Your brother Ben Hadad.” Then he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben Hadad came out to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. Ben Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore. You shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” “I”, said Ahab, “will let you go with this covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go. A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by Yahweh’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him. Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him. So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. As the king passed by, he cried to the king, and he said, “Your servant went out into the middle of the battle; and behold, a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he is missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.” He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets. He said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life will take the place of his life, and your people take the place of his people.’””
(1 Kings 20:32-42)

“A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.” When he had said this, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was made clean. He strictly warned him and immediately sent him out, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.” But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places. People came to him from everywhere.”
(Mark 1:40-45)

After being miraculously delivered from a superior force TWICE, Ahab still chose to go his own way. This is after the priests of Baal had been killed. There was no structure for worship outside of the worship of Yahweh. God had come to Ahab and told him not to fear. That he and the people would be delivered – and they were. The next year he was told the same thing. That they would be delivered and they could destroy those who were coming against them. But Ahab chose his own way in spite of that. He picked a path that would give him a perceived advantage. He wasn’t alone. A son of the prophets chose not to hit another – at the command of the Lord (for effect to assist in a disguise, not for kicks). He decided it would be wrong and even though God had commanded it, he refused to obey. These were men who KNEW God’s words about something and REFUSED to comply.

Jesus never turned down ANYONE who came to Him for healing. He NEVER turned ANYONE away. If you trusted that Jesus could heal you, Jesus healed you. Period. Full stop. But there were things Jesus did ask some of those He healed, and for good reason. Jesus’ mission was to go through the towns and preach the Word. To declare the kingdom of God. This is one of the reasons He was there. Because of that, some miracles He asked them to keep quiet about. Not because He was ashamed, but because He knew they would attract the wrong kind of attention. Fanboys. People chasing the miracles. Not people interested in the Word or drawing near to God. People who wanted a show. Jesus told certain people to keep things to themselves so that He could still enter towns and be effective. But while knowing what He said, there were those who refused to comply.

Summary

It is not enough to find out God’s will in His Word. We MUST submit to what we find there. What good is it to know God’s commands if we refuse to follow them (Luke 6:46)? Jesus knew the truth about this. If we love Him like we say we love Him, we would obey Him because that is the right and proper thing to do (John 14:15). It’s the completely out-in-the-open non-secret to living the life of a disciple of Jesus: when we consciously obey Him, we cannot also consciously disobey Him (1 John 3:9). This is why we stand on the Word. This is why we take this position of humble submission. It doesn’t matter what we FEEL or what we THINK. It only matters that we humble ourselves, crucify our selfish I WANNA, and obey the One whom we love and who is our Lord.