Je 10:6-7 - There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.
There is no one who is as great and mighty and wise as our God. Therefore we are not to fear anything but fear our God. Not only is it truth, it is what God is due. It is required by us to do. We must fear Him.
Je 10:1-5 - Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
In the western world, we do not seem to struggle with fearing idols as much as in other parts of the world. But, there are definitely things that we are scared of including, superstitions, dreams and newspaper rumors and much more. God is saying that all hand-made things are not to be feared. There is nothing that can happen to you apart from God’s knowledge and sovereigngty and only God gives good gifts. We need to find refuge in our father as the giver of all good gifts and the sovereign one in control of everything.
2 Ki 17:5-13 - The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes. All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the Lord to anger. They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.” The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your fathers to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
This is a long passage but I think you see the correlation to the previous passage. Because the Israelites did not fear God, God, in His anger, allowed them to be captured by Assyria. The reason that was given for this was that they worshipped other gods instead of fearing the only God. Fearing God is something that must be done with our whole heart. You can’t fear God and worship other gods. It is one or the other.
Je 1:17-19 - But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”
What a great challenge to dress yourself and get going. I love the promise behind the command, which I will will be with you, and I will deliver you. You will not be dismayed because I am on your side. But the warning is this: if you are dismayed or fearful, than I will dismay you before them. But if you fear me, Jeremiah, God says, than, there will be nothing to fear. But, God doesn’t promise it will be easy. There will be a fight, but they will not win.
Ps 34:4-8 - I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
This Psalm is the perfect companion to the challenge of Jeremiah. When we seek the lord, we wil be delivered from all my fear. He won’t be delievered necessarily from the fight, but from the fears, which is the only thing Jeremiah was warned against. If you are dismayed, I will dismay you. That was the only fear that Jeremiah should have had. The promise here is that an an angel will encamp around those who fear him, and he will deliver them. As we press into God we will, at the most scary times, taste and see that He is good and we will be blessed as we take refuge in Him!
Je 1:4-9 - Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
The issue for Jeremiah was fear. Fear of being to be young and fear of not knowing how to speak. God addresses this fear by ensuring him that God would do the sending, the giving of words and the delivering. The only thing that Jeremiah had to worry about was not being afraid. We can’t forget that Ephesians 2:10 says that God has created us in Christ Jesus to do good works which He has prepared in advance for us, each, to do. Not only had He a call on Jeremiah’s life, he also has a call on our lives. He will see to it that we are sufficiently equipped to do His works for Him, but we must trust and not fear. And, yet, there are more than 25 more times in the book of Jeremiash that God has to utter these same words: “Fear Not!” God is both firm and gracious in his reminding of us of his His sovereignty and sufficiency.
Jdg 7:1-3 - Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
This is such an amazing story of how God decimated Gideon’s army so that God would get the glory and not the Israelites. And, it is even more amazing that the first and most decisive blow was the 22,000 people who left because they feared. I wonder what we miss out on because of fear, and how displeasing this must be to God. I am thankful that Jeremiah obeyed even in his fear.
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.
Is 54:4-8 - “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.
This verses explains the reasons for our fears. We fear being ashamed, confounded and disgraced. What comforting words to Israel and ultimately to us that our Father is committed to us wholly and abundantly. He is our redeemer, our husband and the God of the whole earth. He longs to have compassion in us even in our worst unfaithfulness. If we don’t ever need to fear when we are doing good and when have done bad, we truly never have to fear.
1 Ki 8:41-43 - “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— for men will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
A prayer for the foreigner that God would act on his behalf for the purpose of people knowing His name and Fearing God. When we don’t fear God, we have reason to fear God. Fearing God leads to knowledge and understanding of how life runs and how we should live our lives. Fear disrupts and focuses on us instead of focusing on Him. Fearing God leads to not being ashamed, confounded or disgraced. Fearing God is the answer to not fearing the world.
Is 51:12-13 - “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy?
Again, the theme keeps coming back that when you know God, truly know God, and remember him in fearful situations, you will realize that there is nothing to fear. It is when we forget the Lord, the one who is eternal and never dies, and the one who created the heaven and the earth, that we lose the perspective that if God is for us, who can be against us. Not only do we have nothing to fear, but we also have a God who comforts us in hardship and pain.
1 Ki 8:37-40 - “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—each one aware of the afflictions of his own heart, and spreading out his hands toward this temple— then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.
Because the would forget so often that God is Lord, he allowed the Israelites to experience his discipline for the express purpose of instilling a healthy fear in Him in the the land that was given to them. It is so clear how important fear is to our relationship with God and our growth as believers. Fearing God is what keeps us from forgetting God is what keeps us from fearing man.
