Sunday, November 18, 2007

Day 32 - Jdg 6:23

Do not Fear and Fear God

Jdg 6:23 - But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

Gideon has just seen an angel of the Lord and the words to Him are, "Do not fear, you shall not die." He would not have been commanded to not fear if their wasn't reason for fear. The angel of the Lord in all his holy array and beauty and glory just set fire to his offering and then disappeared. But the Lord still speaks these kind and gracious words to Gideon who in turn builds an altar before the Lord and names it, "The Lord is peace." What a great reminder that in the midst of fear, if we fear God only, we can have peace, a peace that passes all understanding. As Isaiah 8 attests that when we fear Him, he becomes a sanctuary. This vision of God emboldens Gideon to obey and follow the commands of God to the point where he destroys the altar to Baal that night. The verse belies his true motive by doing it at night: Jdg 6:27 - So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime." These honest words describe not only the condition of the Israelites spiritual state, but also that even seeing an angel of God, Gideon was still filled with fear. Whether it was a statement of his shrewdness, the reality of the present state of the the Israelites, or true cowardly fear, Gideon still gets the job done and it is an encouragement to us that God is gracious with fearful people like us.

Day 31 - Jos 11:3-6 & Le 22:31-33

Do not Fear
Jos 11:3-6 - to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight with Israel. And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”

The imagery of troops joined together which number the sand of the sea is intimidating but the Lord once again gives Joshua confidence and says, "Do not be afraid of them." If there was a time to be afraid it was this one. The troops are tired, the numbers of enemies are growing and they are teaming up together. This is the last war before peace. You can imagine him wondering, "Will God come through for this last one?" God is faithful and commands us not to fear. We bank our hopes on his faithfulness and walk in faith, not fear.

Fear Not
Le 22:31-33 - “Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who makes you holy
and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”

Though this verse doesn't use the words fear, the Lord commands fear of his holiness. Keep my commands and follow them. Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy. Why must he be acknowledged as holy? We acknowledge him as holy because He is holy, Because it is for our own good that we set Him apart as holy and by His holiness, we can trust Him in his goodness and his wisdom and his love. We can fully obey because we know that nothing he commands is for our harm and nothing He will say will lead us to evil. We are to fear Him, to allow that fear to change what we do and how we think. And He is the one who makes us holy, He is our God and He is the Lord. We must continue to set him apart from anything we know and understand. He is the one we are to fear. He is worthy of that reverence and respect.