Fear No Fear

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

“I made a covenant with my eyes;
    how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
For what is the portion from God above,
    and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
    and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
Doesn’t he see my ways,
    and count all my steps?”
(Job 31:1-4)

“For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision? Won’t those who are physically uncircumcised, but fulfill the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.“
(Romans 2:25-29)

Job was looking inward and admitting that he wasn’t just talking the talk, he was walking the walk. Job knew that actions were nothing if your heart doesn’t back them up. He had followed the Lord and done the right things. That was why he was complaining about his situation. He knew he was righteous. He knew he had done nothing wrong. He didn’t understand why this was happening and he wanted the why. He wanted to know. He got self-righteous because he could see his inner behaviour, not just the outward expression of it.

What makes us Christians or Jews isn’t who we were born to. That’s how we are a nationality or a culture. What makes us true Christians and true Jews is what is in our hearts. There were Pharisees in Jesus’ day who looked the part of true Jews. They followed the Law. They did all the things. But their hearts were far from God. They were part of the nation of Israel by birth. They were Pharisees by education. They thought they were Jewish by actions. But they weren’t. They were enemies of God and oppressors of the people. Not ALL the Pharisees, but a select group of Judean Pharisees. A small batch. They consistently butted heads with Jesus because He called people to repent from their heart and respond to God from their hearts. It wasn’t that the actions weren’t important, but the actions were the outward expression of the inward reality. The actions on their own didn’t save. Didn’t make you righteous. It was the heart and what the heart dwelt on that made the difference.

Summary

How could this happen to me? We get offended at high prices. We take personal offense at the gas pump. We look at our lives and talk about what we do. The good things. The right things. So how can this be our lives? Why is this happening? Again and again this was Job’s refrain. And again and again we have seen it held up against the refrain of David. David also didn’t like what was happening. David also didn’t understand. But David didn’t moan why me. David called on God to remember His promises as a way to remind himself of God’s promises. And then David refused to let go of them. It isn’t the situation that makes or breaks us. It is our response to the situation. Are we going to moan and complain? Or are we going to trust and believe? It might not happen on OUR schedule or in OUR preferred way. But when God says something, that something is so. Don’t mix time with it. Don’t let go of the promise. Trust and believe. Be a David who holds on and knows God will act. Don’t get self-righteous. Praise and worship. Look to God and let God worry about it. Spoiler: God is never worried about it. God has it. We can trust Him on it. Believe and trust and you’ll never need to worry again.