Is 54:11-14 - “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
This is a wonderful promise of the new millennium and the promise of all that is to come. But, I also think it give us a command for today. How often we are afflicted and storm-tossed and not comforted. It is like being in the boat with Jesus who is sleeping in the storm while we are worried and fearful and uncomforted. When Jesus calmed the waters, what was his rebuke, but that they lacked faith. The command of God is for us not to fear and the promise is that His righteousness will be established through our trials and in our trials. It is true that for now we experience life in the storm, but we have a hope in this storm that has power enough to calm our storm and calm us in our storms.
1 Ki 18:2-5 - So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.”
This is a great story of fearless living in a fearful time. Obadiah feared God only and thus trusted God in the storm that he was living in. This a great application to the truth of what we are learning. When we fear God only, it enables us to be free from the oppression of evil and shame, and to be at peace.
