Fear No Fear

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

“Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.” When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled the hair out of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me because of the trespass of the exiles; and I sat confounded until the evening offering.”
(Ezra 9:1-4)

“Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity,
    in whose spirit there is no deceit.
When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy on me.
    My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledged my sin to you.
    I didn’t hide my iniquity.
I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.
    Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.
You are my hiding place.
    You will preserve me from trouble.
    You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.
    I will counsel you with my eye on you.
Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,
    who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.
Many sorrows come to the wicked,
    but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!
    Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
(Psalm 32)

There was a time when the remnant returning to Jerusalem from Babylon did well. They obeyed. They worshipped properly. They looked to the Lord. Everything was great. But they were stopped in their building of the Temple for a time. During that time, not all of them held to what they should. Ezra and more of the remnant returned to Jerusalem and the Temple was finished. It was important and it was the priority. But as soon as they had breathing room, they confessed their sin. They did not wait. They did not cover it up. Now that they had all the facilities to deal with their transgressions properly, they IMMEDIATELY fessed up and wanted to deal with it. The PEOPLE admitted wrongdoing. The PEOPLE suggested their course of action. The PEOPLE committed to following the Law as it was laid down. The PEOPLE renewed covenant with God. The PEOPLE did not rest until all of them were in compliance (and it was a small number when put against the whole of who had returned). They did not want to jeopardize what God had gifted them. They did not want to walk with God in half measures. They wanted full fellowship and did what they needed to do to achieve it.

God knows we are going to sin. He knows we are going to mess up. That is being human. But He does not leave it there. He wants us right with Him. And we are BLESSED and JOYFUL and FULL OF LIFE when we are. Yes, no one wants to ‘get caught’. Yes, no one enjoys the consequences of poor actions and decisions. But there is such FREEDOM in being right with God. We are so LIGHT when He removes our burdens. And He WILL remove them if we will repent of what put them there in the first place. God will guide us. God will teach us. But we need to be willing to be taught.

Summary

Repentance isn’t one and done. Yes, once we are saved we are saved. That’s done. But we do not 100% trust in God from that moment onward. There is a battle in our minds and we need to strive for victory. Anytime we are shown somewhere that we failed to trust in Jesus, we need to repent and get the Word on that. Get the Word on it until we are aligned with how God sees it. Until we see it the same way and feel about it the same way He does. He helps us with this. It’s one of the ministries of Holy Spirit. It’s a BLESSING to be corrected because when we submit to that, we are in the right – HIS right. That’s a great place to be! The walking there might be uncomfortable, but the destination makes it all worth while. We suffer for a MOMENT, but rejoice for EVER.