Fear No Fear

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

“All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth and restored it to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God; and as long as he sought Yahweh, God made him prosper.”
(2 Chronicles 26:1-5)

“Why do the nations rage,
    and the peoples plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take a stand,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let’s break their bonds apart,
    and cast their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens will laugh.
    The Lord will have them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his anger,
    and terrify them in his wrath:
“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
    I will tell of the decree:
Yahweh said to me, “You are my son.
    Today I have become your father.
Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance,
    the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron.
    You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore be wise, you kings.
    Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
Serve Yahweh with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way,
    for his wrath will soon be kindled.
    Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.”
(Psalm 2)

The covenant was pretty simple. Obey God and worship Him as He said it is proper to do so and you will be blessed. Disobey God and worship other things or worship Him in ways He has said it is improper to do so and you’re exposing yourself to the curse and judgment. The curse because that is all that exists outside of God’s blessing. And judgment because you agreed to the covenant and judgment happens when you do what you have promised not to do. Yet so many people slack off when things go well. Or choose a way that seems right to them. Or outright rebel because they just don’t want to do it God’s way. Again and again we see in the history of Judah and Israel that when they followed the covenant – even imperfectly – things went well. When they didn’t, things went bad. Godly kings were honoured and ungodly kings were merely buried. The people knew who was worthy of respect.

When someone rebels against God it really is kind of pitiful. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at the devil, his angels, a government, a person, or a group. We are the CREATED. Our creator is superior to us by the simple truth of being the one who created us. We didn’t create God. We have invented gods and we have worshipped inanimate and dead things. But we didn’t invent God. It is LAUGHABLE that we could in ANY way challenge Him. We need to see that truth so that we know how proper and good it is to humble ourselves before Him and to worship Him. To give Him the glory He is due and to submit to His point of view. He is GOD. He provides for us. He makes the Way for us to be in a right relationship with Him. And He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He is GOD and He is GOOD.

Summary

Submitting to God isn’t cow towing to a bunch of rules and regulations. It isn’t reading the Law and making sure you don’t do anything that might even slightly make you even look like you’re breaking a commandment. That isn’t submission. That’s religion. Submission is recognizing your place in comparison to God’s place and giving Him the honour due to His place. It means respecting Him enough to listen to Him. It means loving Him enough to choose to obey what we hear from Him. It means discovering His point of view in the Word and choosing to learn it so well that it becomes our point of view as well. It means responding to Him and walking hand in hand with Him. It means remembering what Jesus did for us and refusing to let anyone or anything take His place at any time ever.