Fear is Treasure…
The LORD is exalted, he dwells on high; he filled Zion with justice and righteousness; he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be pulled up, and none of whose ropes will be broken. But there the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor stately ship can pass. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our ruler, the LORD is our king; he will save us. Your rigging hangs loose; it cannot hold the mast firm in its place, or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will fall to plundering. And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”; the people who live there will be forgiven their iniquity. (Isaiah 33:5-6, 20-24, NRSV)
Fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure…
Fear is treasure…
Really?
I know a lot of people who dread fear and try at all cost to get away from it.
As a child I went to haunted forests with my family. I really didn’t like them… I remember one time at one of them we wen into the forest, and I was the carried out by one of my brothers and my brother-in-law, one on each of my arms with my feet up off the ground. Our arms were interlocked and I could not feel my hands, because of the grip I had on them.
I was scared. But is scared and fear the same?
We try to be in control and fear seems to get us out of control. And that leads to darkside as Yoda says…
When we lose control we are not going to get where we need to go…
Or will we?
Fear of the Lord is not a fear where we are scared…
As one of the confirmation students, at the congregation I serve, wrote in a statement of faith, “the fear of God wasn’t fear like dread or being scared. It was the fear that motivated people to follow his will, and the fear of displeasing God. I do not dread God, or am apprehensive about him, I am afraid to let him and all his wondrous love down, afraid to disappoint him and not live the life he has chosen for me.”
Fear of the Lord is living into the life He has called us to even when it gets us out of control. Because then and only then can He truly be in control!
So go where He is leading you, knowing that the fear of Him is your treasure!
What you should do instead of telling me I need Jesus — love me
example…
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21-25, NRSV)
He committed no sin and no deceit was found in Him…
Well I guess that counts me out!
I have sinned and as much as I try not to, I still do.
I have also been deceitful… As much as I try not to I am human and do not always do what I should…
But He was our example to follow in His footsteps. God knew we could not do it. He knew we needed an example to follow because the prophets were not making any headway and we were just not getting it.
Christ came to show us how to live, knowing we could not do it, but lived as an example to help us live the way God created us to be.
So endure and stay the course! He is always with us loving us even when we fall short, and always there to show us a better way!
I Can Do all Things…
I can do all things through Him who gives me strength is one of my favorite verses in the bible.
Paul wrote it to the Philippians as he was thanking them for their concern for him and his ministry. They have financially supported him as he traveled to spread the gospel. He thanks them for their financial support and for their prayers.
He then goes on to explain to them that he has learned to live in any circumstance because he knows that God is always with him and his Savior will give him strength. “for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11b-13)
I was reminded of this verse, because it is on my desk, given to me by my wife in the midst of strife at a previous call to remind me it is not about me, or my situation, it is about who I serve…
I was also reminded of this verse after Easter because of what I see in this congregation. I see a group of people ready to go where God is leading them, relying on Him to see us through. We may not be able to see the end, but we know who is leading us, and walking with us, and because of that we are able to step out in faith!
I see a body of believers who are prayerful and committed to the mission God has called us to. So let us come together and support each other and pray for each other, and walk boldly with our God into this place and be His hands and feet. Knowing that we do not go alone, but together as brothers and sisters, and with Christ who will be our strength, and give us everything we need.
So let’s step out in faith, knowing that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength!
hoped for…
Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet “in a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay; but my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.” But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. (Hebrews 10:35-11:2, NRSV)
Endurance is what is needed in the race.
I know this better now than ever before. You see I do not think I am a runner. But I am doing a running club with my children. We are preparing to run a 5K (3.1 miles) and a 10K (6.2 miles). We have run for the past 3 weeks now and started at .5 miles. We have as of the date of this post gone 2.5 miles. And tomorrow we will run 3.0 miles… Now I have not run before but I can see a difference by staying the course and following through on the days of running. Endurance is what keeps us going, and this is true for running and life…
You see in life it is easy to give in and throw in the towel as the pressures of life close in on us.
We just want to give up.
And stop.
Just like me when I’m running.
I hear the banter in my head…
Why are you running…
It would be so much easier to walk…
what do you have to prove…
you’ve walked further than this already today…
And if I listen to that, I’ll stop…
But there is that other voice inside of my head
You can do this…
Yes it hurts but it will be ok…
Don’t stop you’re almost there…
Think of how you you feel when you cross that line…
Endurance is what we have hoped for! And like in running and in life, it is mental, knowing we are on the right path, and going where the world has not gone, but following the one that will give us new life!
So endure knowing He is what we have hoped for!
Stay the course!
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:1-10, NRSV)
Hold on just a minute here…
What are you saying Paul? What is all of this about dwelling and clothing and taking off or not being in the house, but not being naked and all of this talk about being clothed in the dwelling He has prepared for us?
Paul has a way of saying things in a run on round about way that loses us sometimes. It makes us shake our heads and just say, “Yea whatever he just said…”
But if we don’t get it we shouldn’t agree… But what Paul is saying is this life here is a dwelling that is not permanent, and the one that Christ has prepared for us with God is permanent. We will be in that dwelling forever, and once we leave this dwelling, that is where we will be forever. But while we are in this place, in this life, we can not be fully in that life.
But we can be confident in the promises that that life is real and is with us. We are not there fully, but will be there. For now we see in the mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Our eyes will be opened and we will be with God fully!
So hold to the confidence that Christ is our savior and He will be with us as we stand before the judgement seat, and we will be with Him in the end.
Stay the course!
Would you…
Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see that you will deliver Israel by my hand, just as you have said, I will place a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and all of the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, just as you have said.” And it was so. He arose early the next day and squeezed the fleece, and he wrung out dew from the fleece, a full drinking bowl of water. And Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me; let me speak once more. Please let me test once more with the fleece; let the fleece be dry, and let there be dew on the ground.” And God did so that night; only the fleece was dry, and dew was on all the ground. (Judges 6:36-40, ESV)
Some of us say this is wrong, and that is because Jesus said it was wrong to put the Lord your God to the test. And Jesus said it because it is in the Hebrew Scriptures.
But I wonder how many of us, having the moxy to ask for what Gideon did would actually believe what God showed us.
We ask for a clear sign from God and if we were to get it would we believe it? Or would we say it is a fluke, it was a mistake. So Gideon asked again…
But would you believe after the second test?
Sometimes it takes a while for us to get it and to follow and even with many clear signs we are slow to say, “yes Lord…”
Would you believe the signs and follow?
A new name…
That night he arose and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them and sent them across the stream. Then he sent across all his possessions. And Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the dawn. And when he saw that he could not prevail against him, he struck his hip socket, so that Jacob’s hip socket was sprained as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Then he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked and said, “Please tell me your name.” And he said, “Why do you ask this—for my name?” And he blessed him there. Then Jacob called the name of the place Peniel which means “I have seen God face to face and my life was spared.” Then the sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the sciatic nerve that is upon the socket of the hip unto this day, because he struck the socket of the thigh of Jacob at the sinew of the sciatic nerve. (Genesis 33:22-32, ESV)
How many of us have wrestled with God? Or an angel?
Well I guess we all could say we have, especially if we ever felt God calling us to do something and then we said, “really you want me to do that? I’m not able to do that…”
We all wrestle with God, maybe not in a physical sense but all of us struggle with following where He is calling us to go and be and to do what He is asking us to.
And just like Jacob we all have the opportunity to get a new name from God. At the font, God names us and claims us as His own. And while the pastor may use the same name out parents gave us, God calls us by a new name, “beloved child!”
You are His beloved child and by that name He is calling you…
Bad rap…
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31, ESV)
Most of us who have been to worship before have heard this verse and the title it is traditionally known by, Doubting Thomas.
But I wonder why were the 10 locked in the room? And where was Thomas?
If they all actually feared for their lives would they not either all stay together or all be alone? Safety in numbers or better off by themselves…
But Thomas is not there. He is out of the room…
And where we do not know, and doing what we do not know…
But because he questioned the others when he did returned he gets the rap for doubting and sets up the thought that doubting or questioning is bad.
Questioning God is not wrong and seeking a clear understanding is not wrong. God calls us to know the truth and not just blindly follow what others tell us.
Thomas needed to understand himself, and confessed without touching. But blessed are we who seek answers and find them without seeing.
So question and seek, trusting in the truth of God.
aSacredRebel 