The Weekly Epistle 7/27/22

A mom was tucking her young son into bed during a severe thunderstorm.  She was about to turn the light off when the young boy asked in a trembling voice, “Mommy, will you stay with me all night?  I am scared!”  Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, “I can’t dear.  I have to sleep in daddy’s room.”  
 
There was a long silence and then it was broken by a shaky little voice saying, “The big sissy!”  
 
Fear!  It isn’t just for kids.  All of us can identify with fear.  It has been said that “fear is the sand in the machinery of life.”  All of us know what it is like to experience fear.  It might be fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of what’s coming for our country, fear of terminal illness, fear of losing our freedoms, fear of terrorism, fear of being rejected, fear of…(you fill in the blank).
 
Well over 300 times in Scripture we find the words, “Fear not!”  And often those two words are accompanied by the reason we ought not to fear.  God tells us, “Fear not!” Why? “For I am with you.”  Where do you go with your fear?  
 
In Psalm 27, we see David write a song in a time when he was likely running for his life from the madman Saul.  David has every reason to be afraid.  Danger was imminent.  Pressure was mounting.  There were those who wanted David dead.  Yet he sings (verse 1), “The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?” This is David’s song in the midst of real danger.  The Lord is my light!  The Lord is the eternal God, and His light is everlasting.  
 
The Lord is our light and our salvation.  We really have nothing to fear.  David goes on to say, “The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?”  The Lord is our stronghold.  David is saying, “God is like that cave way up on a hillside where he can hide inside.”  The Lord is the mountain fortress cave of our life.  We have nothing to fear.  
 
I would encourage you to read Psalm 27 in its entirety as we see David go to the Lord with his fear.  But I want to point out one more thing about this Psalm that we see in the last verse.  In verse 14 David says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
 
David knows that just because he is going to the Lord with what threatens his very life the problem would not suddenly go away.  He would need to enter into God’s rest. He would need to wait. 
 
When afraid we have a choice.  When fear wants to strangle the life out of us and paralyze us, we can either respond out of fear or wait for the Lord.  When there are those who oppose us or want to hurt us or intimidate us, we must decide whom shall I fear?  Will I fear God or people?  Will I see people as big or God as big?  “Wait for the Lord,” David says, “wait for the Lord.”  
 
Church, whatever you fear right now, let it drive you to Him.  If we are to live confidently in the face of fear, then seeking Him, knowing Him, going hard after Him must be our one thing.  Anything else will only lead us to confusion, restlessness, despair, depression, anxiety, and crippling fear.  Jesus must be our one thing.  
 
Blessings, Pastor Brian