Without Fear

Isaiah 12 says,

“Behold, God is my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid;

For the Lord God is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.”

How many times have we stated that we trust in God, but yet we’re really scared to death?  I’ve done it.  I’ve declared that I trust in God, but then I make every provision to work things out just in case he doesn’t come through.  I go to sleep thinking on ways that I can manipulate the situation and make things turn out the way I want them to, if God stays silent at my request.

This verse says that “I will trust and not be afraid.”

So how is that possible?  Read on…

When we acknowledge that he is our strength, our song, and our salvation, then fear fades away.

When we are weak, he is strong.  

When we sing, our soul stands up and salutes.

When we need a Savior, and realize how he’s rescued us, we rest.

Needing strength, a song, and a rescue?  He’s all of these and more.

When we realize these three things, our souls will trust…without fear.

Don't Do It

Proverbs 3:

This is my husband’s favorite passage in the Bible:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

I lean hard on my own understanding most of the time.  In fact, I lean so hard I downright fall over due to my understanding being so limited.  When anything happens in life, I try to understand it and make sense of it, within the confines of what I see and know and experience.

However, this passage says “do not” lean that way.

Instead, we are to acknowledge Him (remember the Lord’s prayer “Our father who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name…).  In other words, let him know that we know he is present, he is near, he is able, and we believe it.

To be acknowledged is one of life’s greatest pleasures, isn’t it?  When we’ve completed a job, we enjoy acknowledgement.  When we enter a room, it feels good to be recognized by the host.  And when we make a good decision, we like to be given credit.

God requires that we acknowledge him in our seeking, our understanding, and our walking.

He says that when we trust him, lean into Him, and acknowledge Him, then our paths will be straight.

What more could we want out of life than a straight path that leads to eternal bliss, instead of wandering, curving, and falling off cliffs because we tried to make it without his direction?

Let Me Hear

Psalm 143

Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul.

What do you hear when you awake in the morning?  The sound of the coffeepot grinding the beans, the noises of crying children who want their food now, and the to-do list screaming at you as if it has lungs?

We recently videotaped a fun time at the park where my husband was flying a kite with our grandson.  When we were actually there, all I concentrated on was whether or not the wind was blowing and if we could keep the kite in the air, hoping Gideon would squeal with delight.

But when we played back the video on our phone, we heard birds singing loudly in the background, and both of us commented on how we totally missed those songs in the moment of flying the kite.

Perhaps if we awake to His lovingkindnesses in the morning, his goodness to us, his songs he sings over us, and his mercy that flows like a waterfall…our trust would be stronger throughout the day, and our path where we walk a little more clear.

Who knows, we might even find ourselves skipping instead of walking, as we lift our souls to Him, soaring in the sky without a care in the world.

Rest Against

Psalm 131 is a very short chapter, and one full of great truth.

 Psalm 131 is a very short chapter, and one full of great truth.

O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord From this time forth and forever.

One of the things that most commonly gets me in trouble is when I  meditate on things I don’t understand, mostly regarding to God and his ways.  And it’s really not wise, because in doing so I become proud in thinking I know better than God.  Yikes.

In these times, we need to learn how to compose and quiet our soul.

When children are first born, they get their nutrition from the mother’s milk, but eventually that is not enough, and stronger food is necessary.

As we grow in our walk with Christ, we endure hard things and go through circumstances beyond our control or understanding.  It’s then that we just place our hope and trust in the Lord, much like a child continues to find solace and comfort against her mother.

I love this chapter. It reminds me that he’s God and I’m not, and it’s a fact of life that there will be things too difficult and great for my finite mind to comprehend.

But that fact is not something that alarms God one bit.  In fact, it’s in those times that he wants us to lean in a little closer, as we wait and trust in his divine guidance and provision.

Reproached?

Psalm 119:42

So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word.

There are times when others express disapproval or disappointment in us (which is the definition of “reproach”) and that expression is valid.  We need to answer when we have done someone wrong, or acted in a manner that was not pleasant or honoring.

However, there will be times when others express disapproval and disappointment in us, when we have done nothing wrong.  This happens often when parents see their own unmet goals in their children, or when friends’ needs are so great they impose themselves on us.  There is no answer to these types of reproaches.

This is when we have to trust his Word about who he says we are.  It doesn’t do anyone any good for us to argue or push back, when reproached by others. The only good we can do is to stand firm in knowing that we belong to Him and he loves and accepts us.  And we can pray for that person(s) for his/her needs, and then move forward.

It also doesn’t bode well to retort back to a person who is disappointed at us with words of “wisdom” as we berate them back in our own religious pride.  That is not healthy or wise.

Sometimes the best answer is no answer.  And in giving no answer, we stand firm on the Word and the knowledge that God can answer better than we can, so we let him have it.

Feeling reproached for something that’s totally invalid?  Trust in the Lord, and be quiet.

It is Better

Psalm 118: It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

We all trust in man. We have to, in order to function in this life.  But man fails us and disappoints, because man is flesh, imperfect, and broken.  Those in whom we trust can be very trustworthy, but due to circumstances, their own weaknesses, or just obstacles in their lives, man cannot be a refuge for us.

Only the Lord is a refuge.  So it’s better to trust the Lord than to trust man.

We all trust in princes…or those in authority over us.  They too are flesh, they make decisions that are flawed, and sometimes the power and fame they have corrupt them.  Therefore, princes and kings, or any type of leader at all is not a safe refuge, either.

Only the Lord is a refuge.  So it’s better to trust in the Lord than in princes.

It’s just better to trust in the Lord period...

Enough said.

But As For Us

Psalm 115 cont’d:

The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor do any who go down into silence;

But as for us, we will bless the Lord From this time forth and forever.

Praise the Lord!

Who are the dead? 

Remember those false gods that were talked about earlier in this chapter?  They are dead, unfeeling, unmoving, and unknowing.  And those who worship them become like them – dead.

But…we are not dead, because we worship a living God.  He’s not just living and sitting on his throne “observing” man.  He has been involved since creation, in fashioning us in his own image, sending his Son to give us life, and filling us with his Spirit in order that we might experience abundant life in Him.

We are not among the dead, when we choose to fear and trust in Him.  And therefore, we will not be silent.  We will bless his name, now and forever.

So however you praise the Lord (in song, in dance, in weeping, in hands extended, in clapping, etc.) – do it.  Do it continually.

We serve a living God, and we will bless him, and all who live under our roof!