Fear No Fear

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

“Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David. . . “Now therefore arise, Yahweh God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness. “Yahweh God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.””
(2 Chronicles 6:16-17, 41-42)

“Arise, Yahweh, into your resting place,
    you, and the ark of your strength.
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness.
    Let your saints shout for joy!
For your servant David’s sake,
    don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
Yahweh has sworn to David in truth.
    He will not turn from it:
    “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.
If your children will keep my covenant,
    my testimony that I will teach them,
    their children also will sit on your throne forever more.””
(Psalm 132:8-12)

Obedience and rest are connected. Obedience and joy are connected. Obedience and the BLESSING of the Lord are connected. It is not because God is stingy. He’s not up in heaven with His arms crossed waiting to see if you’ll do what He says before He sprinkles some crumbs our way. God makes us promises. God makes a space for us to enjoy His BLESSING. He tells us where the space is. He tells us the borders of the space. He warns us that is where the BLESSING is and that is where the BLESSING will stay. David knew this. Solomon knew this. The priests knew this. And they REJOICED. It was clear. If they chose to stay in the place of obedience, they would receive all the benefits of the BLESSING because that is where the BLESSING was.

Resting in God is where we gain our righteousness. We need God to achieve righteousness because all humanity sins. Righteousness is sinless. We need to rest in Him in order to rest in sinlessness. When we choose Him, we don’t chose sin. We are staying in the BLESSING place. When we chose sin, we are rejecting Him. We’re moving out of the BLESSING place. This is not an easy thing. But it IS a SIMPLE thing. The Word backs this up: “Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). We need to chose obedience every moment of every day. Whenever we do not, we need to repent and get more Word into us on that thing so that His Light will illuminate it and help us choose to think about it like God thinks about it. When we think about things like He does, we rejoice and celebrate and worship because we will be experiencing His BLESSING in the place of rest in Jesus.

Summary

We have a choice. We exercise that choice every day all day long. Our troubles don’t disappear. Our burdens don’t disappear. But in Jesus we are lifted above them. In Jesus, He bears the burdens for us. We get to receive from Him because we went to the place where the blessing was and we stay there (1 Kings 17:3-4). Obedience is a choice. It is a choice made from love. Our love of God empowers us to obey (John 14:15). Resting in Jesus is putting Him in the driver’s seat and moving where He steers us. Obedience keeps us where we need to be. Obedience unlocks our joy. Obedience is the manifestation of our love for Him.