”FEAR NOT: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth” ~ Isaiah 43:5-6
FEAR NOT: (Whatever You have gone through) God still has a Place for You
After captivity in Babylon followed by Medeo-Persian, Greek and then Roman rule and finally ‘expulsion’ from The Promised Land, the Israelites, wondered if God was done with them. Had their sins ruined their relationship with God forever? Would they or their children, or their children’s children ever return to the Promised Land? Were they finished as a nation?
Knowing that they would wonder these things, God prepared a message for them ahead (far, far ahead) of time: He was not finished with them: He would bring them back. And He did: in 1947 the nation of Israel was ‘reborn’ with Israelites returning from every direction.
The message for Believers, for you and for me, is that even when God chastises (disciplines) us, He isn’t finished with us. He will “bring us back”: He will restore us!
“Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” ~ Philippians 1:6
FEAR NOT, God won’t give up on us! FEAR NOT, even when we ‘mess up’ God still has a plan for us, if we repent! FEAR NOT, though sometimes we wander far away from God, God WILL bring His children home! FEAR NOT, God’s children will not wander in the wilderness forever! FEAR NOT, Believer, your home is with God your Father: He still has room for you!
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
”…FEAR NOT: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour…” ~ Isaiah 43:1b-3a
FEAR NOT: God is with us in the Fires and in the Floods
FEAR NOT, God will not forsake us: God will not leave us alone. FEAR NOT, no matter how difficult things get, God will be with us.
FEAR NOT, Believer, God is with us through the cancer diagnosis; God is with us through the foreclosure notice; God is with us when our loved ones die. God will never leave us alone, FEAR NOT!
No matter how hard the trials may be, they will not destroy us because God is with us: “they shall not overflow thee…thou shalt not be burned”
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed;
We are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken;
Cast down, but not destroyed” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
FEAR NOT!
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“FEAR thou NOT; for I am with thee:
be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee;
yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, FEAR NOT; I will help thee. FEAR NOT, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” ~ Isaiah 41:10-14
FEAR NOT: Though God DISCIPLINES Us, God never DESERTS Us
God had prophesied through Isaiah that the Israelites would be defeated by the Babylonians/Chaldeans and taken into captivity because of their sins against Him.
BUT, God also PROMISED to help them through the difficulties they were going to face, before, during and after the captivity. Accordingly, in this beautiful passage of Scripture, God tells them to FEAR NOT because, despite their punishment, He would never desert (abandon) them.
He sent prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel, to give them His Word. God placed men like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in key positions of the Babylonian government so that His people would always have someone to look out for them (Daniel 1-2). He inspired Levites (effectively, their church leaders) to write beautiful Psalms for them to sing and to reflect on their relationship with God (e.g., Psalm 42-43).
Eventually, God put Cyrus the Mede into power, so that he would fulfill the prophecy spoken by Isaiah and send them home to Judah (Isaiah 44:21-45:13). And God gave them leaders, righteous men to lead them home (Ezra, Ezra 1-10) and to re-establish Israel (Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, Joshua the Priest: e.g., Ezra 3, Nehemiah 1-13, Haggai 1-2 and Zechariah 3-4).
God kept His promises to the Israelites and He will keep these same promises to Believers today. So, as we face the challenges of life, let us hold on to these promises of God:
FEAR NOT, The LORD is with us
FEAR NOT, The LORD is our God
FEAR NOT, The LORD will strengthen us
FEAR NOT, The LORD will help us
FEAR NOT, The LORD will uphold us with the right hand of HIS righteousness.
FEAR NOT, The LORD will hold our right hand
FEAR NOT, The LORD will help us
FEAR NOT, The LORD will help us
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, FEAR NOT: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” ~ Isaiah 35:4
FEAR NOT: God will Save Us
Throughout the book of Isaiah had there are prophesies that the people of Judah would go into captivity as punishment for their idolatry, for their unfaithfulness to God (e.g., Isaiah 33:10-16). However, the book of Isaiah is also filled with prophesies of their rescue, of which our text is an example.
The message for the people of Judah, was that though God would correct them for their sins, He would not forget them: He would be with them and, at the right time, he would rescue and restore them.
That message is true for us too. Sometime we get ourselves into bad situations because we decide to go our own way; sometimes God chastens/corrects us for our sinful ways. But know this, if we are truly children of God, then God our Father is NOT finished with us. He will not chasten forever. When we have borne the fruit of repentance, God will rescue us; God will restore us!
“…Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.” ~ Jeremiah 3:12
FEAR NOT, God has not forgotten us. FEAR NOT, The Lord will defeat our enemies. FEAR NOT, Believers, we belong to God, and He is faithful.
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“And say unto him [Ahaz], Take heed, and be quiet; FEAR NOT, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.” ~ Isaiah 7:4
FEAR NOT: God is Faithful even when we are Faithless
God sent this message to Ahaz, an EVIL king of Judah, through Isaiah. Judah was under attack from Syria, but God promised to protect them despite the fact that they and their king, Ahaz, had been disobedient to God as they continued to worship idols. The message, therefore, reminds us that God often protects us in spite of ourselves. Even when we are weak, even when we have failed, God remains faithful: God still watches over us and protects us.
God recognizes our frailties, and is merciful. FEAR NOT, Believer, God’s faithfulness depends on His righteousness, not ours. Therefore, we have hope.
In closing, it is important to note that despite God’s protection and demonstration of love, Ahaz went his own way. Ahaz, profanely, worshiped idols instead of God. Ahaz even sacrificed his own son (2 Kings 16:3) to please the idols he worshiped. And, eventually, God removed Ahaz from the throne.
Similarly, if we continue to resist Him, God’s mercy will be removed and replaced by His judgment. God is love, but God is also judge. Let us make the best use of His mercy while there is time: let us turn our lives completely over to Him.
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: FEAR NOT, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.” ~ 2 Chronicles 20:17
FEAR NOT: God will FIGHT for You!
God will fight for you! What a message! Our job is to show up, to go to the battlefield, but God will secure the victory for us! FEAR NOT!
To understand the context in which this promise comes we must examine the passage of Scripture from which it is taken: 2 Chronicles 20:1-30. Our text is a message from God (through Jahaziel, the Levite) to the Hebrews in Judah in the reign of king Jehoshaphat.
Without provocation, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the Edomites had gathered themselves together to war against Judah. When king Jehoshaphat heard of the huge army coming against him and his people, he was afraid. How could his little nation resist this horde of enemies?
Jehoshaphat then did something that is instructive to us: he determined to seek the Lord: he proclaimed a fast throughout the land and gathered the people (including the children, 2 Chronicles 20:13) together for prayer, to ask God’s help (2 Chronicles 20:3-4, 13).
While their enemies gathered for war, the people of God gathered for prayer.
Jehoshaphat prayed a beautiful prayer (2 Chronicles 20:5-12), and in closing his prayer he made this humble, but insightful, statement:
“…for we have no might… neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” ~ 2 Chronicles 20:12
In other words, “we can’t do it, but we look to you, God, because we know you can do it”.
It is AFTER this, as the people waited on Him, that God sent His message of encouragement through Jahaziel.
The lesson for us is this: When we face problems (big and small), like king Jehoshaphat, we must FIRST humble ourselves and seek the Lord.
As simple as that prescription seems, as many times as we have heard it, that is not our usual response. When facing problems we often respond by looking to our own ‘wisdom’/’knowledge’ and relying on our own resources/strength.
Sadly, we often turn to God only when we have run out of options: we call on God in the middle of the battle when we realize defeat is imminent.
However, we would do well to follow Jehoshaphat’s example instead. Scripture tells us that there is an enemy assembled against us, and that that enemy is in the spiritual realm
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” ~ Ephesians 6:12
We can’t fight that enemy with our own wisdom and strength; if we are to prevail we must rely on God’s wisdom and God’s strength. God must fight for us! And He will! But first we must humbly seek Him, we must look to Him: the victory over the enemy does not come while warring on the battlefield, the victory comes while praying on our knees. It is in seeking God that the victory is won.
Likewise, we will win our battles by first seeking God in prayer, long before the battles begin.
FEAR NOT, God is on our side. FEAR NOT, we who seek Him, we who walk with Him, we will win.
In closing, the Hebrews won the battle: God made the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites war against each other until every man in their army was dead. The people of Judah only went on the battlefield to collect the goods (food, clothes, weapons, tools, cattle, even valuables) their enemies left behind. And there was so much stuff that it took them three days to collect it all!
When God fights our battles for us, our enemies will always leave behind a blessing for us to enjoy. 🙂
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“And David said to Solomon his son, ‘Be strong and of good courage, and do it: FEAR NOT, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.'” ~ 1 Chronicles 28:20
FEAR NOT: We can (only) Trust in The God we Know
In this chapter, David instructed his son Solomon to build the Temple of God. Though David had planned to do it himself, God told him it was to be Solomon’s job (2 Samuel 7:8–13, 1 Chronicles 22:7–8). David, therefore (as a good father should), points Solomon in the direction he should go.
But David does more than just give Solomon direction/instructions; David encourages Solomon based on his personal experience with God. David tells Solomon “…my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee…”. Notice the word “my”: Not just “God”, but “my God”.
David could encourage his son to trust in God, because David himself had a real relationship with God. He had experienced God for himself. Fellow believers, that is the key.
David could go forth confidently, because he knew God personally. For example, when David fought Goliath, he stepped out in faith because he knew God’s character. The other Israelites were filled with fear, because they did NOT know God. They knew ‘of’ God, but had no personal relationship themselves.
Likewise, our fear also comes from not knowing God enough. As our relationship with God grows, so will our faith in Him. As God becomes “my God”, so our fears slip away.
David’s testimony to his son was a confident one because he knew God. And his son, Solomon, responded to that testimony with faith: he obeyed his father and built the greatest temple ever built. When we have a testimony like David, when God is “my God”, then our testimony will also be confident and believable to those who hear it.
FEAR NOT, because God wants to be “our God”. FEAR NOT, when we know God personally, we will know He is truly trustworthy. FEAR NOT, you will know that ‘your God’, ‘my God’ will not fail us, nor forsake us.
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, FEAR NOT to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.” ~ 2 Kings 25:24
FEAR NOT: God only Disciplines His Children
Because of their sin, God had allowed the Babylonians (a.k.a the Chaldees, Chaldeans) to conquer Judah. The entire book of Jeremiah chronicles events just before, during and just after this event. Jeremiah, God’s prophet, had warned the people to submit to the corrective punishment God was sending their way. And Gedaliah, his friend’s son who had been appointed Governor of Judah by the Babylonians, echoed Jeremiah’s admonishments.
The message here is that when God our loving and wise Father decides to chasten/punish us it is wise for us to submit, NOT resist, His correction. We have nothing to fear from our Heavenly Father who corrects us: God is not abusive. Indeed, Scripture tells us:
“… My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” ~ Hebrews 12:5b-7
God corrects/chastens/punishes/disciplines us BECAUSE He loves us. God does not want our sinfulness to destroy us, so, like any good father would, He takes corrective measures to ‘straighten us out’.
Despite Gedaliah’s (and Jeremiah’s) wise advice, many Hebrews resisted God’s correction: they refused to serve the Babylonians quietly until God brought an end to their punishment (as He promised He would, 2 Chronicles 36; Isaiah 44, 45). Eventually, they assassinated Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:25, Jeremiah 40-41), and kidnapped Jeremiah, taking him as they fled to Egypt (Jeremiah 43).
These Hebrews were never heard of again.
By refusing God’s correction they refused their ‘sonship’. They rejected the discipline of God The Father, and He rejected them as sons.
In closing, let us consider, first, the response of David to chastening/correction (for his sin):
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.” ~ 2 Samuel 24:14
And, second, the response of Jeremiah (on behalf of Judah) to chastening/correction (for their sin):
“For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” ~ Lamentations 3:31-33
FEAR NOT, Believer, when God our Father corrects us, it is an affirmation that we ARE His children.
FEAR NOT, God’s chastening will not last forever.
FEAR NOT, God’s correction is an opportunity to turn around, to repent, and to walk in the right way.
FEAR NOT, even while we are enduring His chastening, God our Father still loves us.
Let us submit to the discipline of our Heavenly Father.
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“And he answered, ‘FEAR NOT: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” ~ 2 Kings 6:16-17
FEAR NOT: Believers, the enemy is Outnumbered
The king of Syria had grown tired of Elisha, who had been helping the king of Israel ward off Syria’s attacks (2 Kings 6:8-23). So, he sent a large party of Syrian troops to capture Elisha.
When Elisha’s servant woke up early in the morning, he looked out and saw “an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots” (2 Kings 6:15). Elisha, seeing his servants fear, encouraged him (in our text, above) and prayed that God would “open his eyes, that he may see” (2 Kings 6:17).
God “opened” the servants eyes and he saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). There was nothing to fear because an army of angels from heaven was surrounding them: they had God’s army protecting them.
The same is true for every Believer today. Nothing, no one, can penetrate the army of angels surrounding us: we have a bastion of protection. Anything that does come through the ranks of the angels protecting us only comes through because of God allows it. And anything that God allows into our lives is for our benefit (Romans 8:28).
FEAR NOT, Believers, there is an army of angels protecting us at every instant. Let us, therefore, not walk around in fear. Rather, let us be bold and courageous, because we know that “they that be with us are more than they that be with them”, we have the army of angels, the host of heaven on our side!
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
“And Elijah said unto her, FEAR NOT; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.” ~ 1 Kings 17:13
FEAR NOT: Trust God (Even) More
Under ‘normal’ circumstances widows and their children (which the Bible calls orphans) were among the most vulnerable in society in the times of Elijah. They had no husband to protect them or provide for them. Consequently, they were often taken advantage of by men and often became slaves because of their eventual, perhaps inevitable, indebtedness.
But these weren’t ‘normal’ times, it was worse, much worse. Israel was in the midst of a long drought (which God had used Elijah to pronounce, 1 Kings 17:1) which had led to economic collapse. As a result, it seems, the widow had run out of food. She just had enough left to make a fried flatbread (“cake”) which she would share with her son as their last meal before starvation. She was facing the ultimate crisis, with no one to turn to. And she was facing the ultimate failure as a mother: the inability to care for her child.
In the middle of this crisis, here comes Elijah, the man of God.
Elijah, the man of God asks here to do what seems impossibly unreasonable: to give him a meal FIRST. “FEAR NOT” he says… “Fear not?!!?!” she must have thought. At her lowest point, God (through Elijah) was challenging her to give: to exercise faith while staring into the abyss.
Sometimes God challenges us in similar ways. When our lives are falling apart, will we still put out trust in God? Will we still put Him first? It’s easy to ‘put God first’ when things are going well. But how about when we lose our homes, or our health, or our jobs, or our children, or ‘all of the above’? Will we put God first then?
It is at these crisis points in our lives that we discover who we really are and who God really is.
The widow of Zarephath learned that she had more faith than she realized and she learned that God will sustain the one who trusts in Him. The widow made a meal for Elijah and God made sure her meal sack and her oil jar never emptied (1 Kings 17:14-20). In reflection, it is important to note that result was not promised to her. Elijah never said, ‘if you feed me God will bless you’. There was no transactional commitment. There was only a challenge to exercise faith in a very, very practical way.
Similarly, when God challenges us, we often can’t see the benefit: we can’t decipher how trusting in Him will make things any better. Indeed, we often are tempted to think “well, we trusted Him already… and it doesn’t seem to be working out… I am about to lose everything”. But God still insists, “trust Me, put Me first… FEAR NOT”.
We are not told why the widow decided to take a leap of faith. Was it fear of Elijah? Was it Fear of God? Was it apathy, the grim realization that death by starvation was imminent either way? We do not know. We only know that she did exercise faith and that God did bless her, and her son.
When the Christians in the early church (~ 1900 years ago) were put in the Colosseum to be mauled by lions, they had to exercise their faith too. They had to decide to trust in God, even if they would be put to death for that faith. Many believers did die in that horrible fashion, but God was still faithful. Because of their sacrifice, because of their faith, many, many hearts were broken. And,eventually, an entire empire turned away from idols and turned to God.
Yes, even in their death, God was faithful. For He used their deaths to bring life to many, many more… and we still benefit from their martyrdom today: their meal sack has not emptied and their oil jar still has oil in it.
If we make the leap of faith like the widow did, we too will find that God is faithful. Like the widow, we don’t know how things will turn out. But we will discover that, in life greatest challenges, the only faithful option, the only option that has any chance of rescuing us, is to FEAR NOT. Let’s put our trust in God.
This post is a part of a series on several of the “FEAR NOT” sayings in the Bible.
Reflections in The WORD 