Exodus 20:20

Imagine two children. Imagine that one child has a parent who lets him run rampant, lets him do whatever he pleases without consequences, and generally ignores his actions. Imagine that the other child has a parent who pays close attention to her comings and goings, disciplines her when she disobeys, and teaches her how to live to be healthy and successful.

As a child yourself, which parent would you feel more secure with? Choose for yourself, but having grown up with good parents who set good boundaries, I always felt secure and it doesn’t take too much intuition to know that a child with no discipline will grow up troubled. A child who grows up with a parent who teaches her the way that she should go can rest easy, knowing that she is in good hands and that the path she takes is right.

Without further ado we come to Exodus 20:20-

Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear Him and will not sin.”

Wait… how can Moses say “Don’t be afraid” and then in the same breath say that they are meant to fear God? The readiest explanation is that the fear of God is a healthy fear- an acknowledgement and acceptance of his sovereignty and amazing power, the realization that with a single word He could reduce us to ashes, and yet the understanding that He chooses instead to love us and guide us with a hand that is, more often than not, gentle.

The testing of our faith brings endurance (James 1:3). And when we fear God, we don’t have to fear anything else.

Fear Not # 6- He tests us so that we will not sin.

Fear Not # 5- He will fight for us.

Fear Not # 4- He will go down with us and He will bring us back.

Fear Not # 3- He is with us.

Fear Not # 2- He hears us in the place where we are.

Fear Not # 1- He is our shield.

Exodus 14: 13-14

Sorry I missed a few days! I seem to have very little down time lately. Time management, what is THAT all about? But I’ve got to come  back to this because it has been an amazing project for me. The word of God is living, and the evidence is no more clear than when you are met with an anxiety trigger and instead of the panic you usually feel rising in your chest, your mind is filled with His precious words of peace. I am with you. I am your shield.

If you are struggling with anxiety I encourage you to hide His words in your heart. They will come to you when you need them, and I can’t even begin to explain the elation of utter calm where there should be anxiety. It is a work in progress for me, but I want everyone who struggles with anxiety to experience this peace, and it is the peace that can come only from God’s amazing words.

Exodus 14:13-14:

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

These words are spoken to calm the terrified Israelites who are stranded on the shore of the Red Sea after leaving Egypt, the incensed Egyptians in hot pursuit. Needless to say, they’ve got plenty to be afraid of. They have left everything they have known for 430 years to follow a shy and stuttering man into the wilderness because he talked to a bush! And yet God proved Himself faithful through the plagues and the protection of His people. The Israelites had no reason to fear considering the track record of God’s faithfulness, and yet they succumbed to the appearance of their immediate circumstances.

And how often do we do the same thing? Looking back over our lives it is easy to see where God’s hand has protected us, sheltered us, and led us through even the most terrible of times. And yet when we are faced with a new challenge, it is so easy to tremble and shake and let the anxiety strengthen its icy grip, chipping away at our sense of well-being, our confidence, and everything that makes me me and you you.

But if we can just be still for a moment and remember all the things that God has led us through, even those things that didn’t turn out the way we hoped they might, if we can realize that He never intended for us to fight our battles alone, then we can find that unexplainable peace in the knowledge that He is in complete control of our situation.All things work together for the good of those who love Him. It doesn’t mean things will be easy (ask the Israelites, who went from 430 years in slavery straight into 40 years wandering in the wilderness!), but they will work together for good. You can take that to the bank.

Stand firm! The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.

God is giving us permission to cast our cares on Him, lay our burdens at His feet, and for goodness sake, RELAX. Take a deep breath. Take a bubble bath. Drink a glass of wine, if that’s your thing. Make some coffee. Snuggle with your dog. Take a walk. Read His word. Sit quietly in the presence of God. Meditate on His word. Being still isn’t about apathy, it’s about recognizing that you are not in control, and rather than letting that knowledge terrify you, follow it up with remembering who IS in control. Stand firm and be still.

Sounds good to me!

Fear Not # 5- He will fight for us.

Fear Not # 4- He will go down with us and He will bring us back.

Fear Not # 3- He is with us.

Fear Not # 2- He hears us in the place where we are.

Fear Not # 1- He is our shield.

Teacup Candles!

I made these as Christmas gifts for all of my grandmas (there are 4 of them now that I’m married!) and they were a hit. I think. They were pretty easy, very inexpensive, and they turn out so pretty that I just had to share!

Genesis 46:3

So much has happened! The recipient of God’s comforting words is now Jacob (Israel), who has just been informed by his 11 sons that Joseph, long thought dead, is now practically ruling over Egypt during the 7 years of famine and has requested that they come live there for the duration of the famine.

When Israel is en route to Egypt, he stops for the night to make sacrifices to God, and that night God visits him:

(2) … “Jacob, Jacob!” He said.

And Jacob replied “Here I am.”

(3) God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. (4) I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.”

According to my bible, the phrase “put his hands on your eyes” means he will close your eyes after you die. So, essentially, Israel will die in peace with all of his sons around him, particularly his most beloved whom he thought long dead. Amazing!

At this point, the fact that Abraham’s descendants would become a great nation has been promised to nearly all of his descendants, and so when God reminds Israel of this fact He is assuring him that He keeps His promises. I especially love the next line- “I will go down with you… and I will also bring you back.”

God never leaves or forsakes His children. Even far before those words are ever spoken (Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13:5), He was reassuring His children of this fact. He keeps His promises! We can be assured that whatever our own personal “Egypt” is, wherever that place is where we are afraid to go whether it is to a hopeless job, a new city, a place of bad memories or just to bed where terror waits in the darkness (raise your hand if you’ve ever been THERE), He will go down with us and He will bring us back.

Fear Not # 4- He will go down with us and He will bring us back.

Fear Not # 3- He is with us.

Fear Not # 2- He hears us in the place where we are.

Fear Not # 1- He is our shield.

Genesis 26:23

The third recipient of the command not to be afraid is Isaac! Have you read the story of how Isaac and his wife Rebekah got married? It’s pretty amazing.

At this point in the narrative, Isaac is living in the land of the Philistines and being blessed filthy stinking rich by the Lord. His crops are abundant and he has a whole mess of cows and sheep and other various hoofed creatures that equaled riches back then. The Philistines were extremely jealous of Isaac’s good fortune and began to get nervous about how powerful he was, so they asked him to leave. He camped in the valley of Gerar and began to dig wells, which one by one became sources of contention between himself and the herdsmen of Gerar, so much so that Isaac gave the wells names like “Quarrel” and “Hostility”. He finally moved far enough away that the next well he dug was not quarreled over, and he named it “Open Spaces” (For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land), which for some reason is very beautiful in my opinion, although I do wish I could read it without getting the Dixie Chicks song stuck in my head.

Wide open spaaaaces….

And moving right along to Genesis 26:23-24-

From there he went up to Beer-sheba, and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham.”

I can imagine that there were all sorts of things for Isaac to fear. Quarreling with foreigners, the vindictive and jealous Philistines he had fled from (who had, years earlier, stopped up all of Abraham’s wells out of spite), his apparent inability to settle in one place without problems. As blessed as he was, that’s a pretty substantial burden for a boy whose dad almost sacrificed him to God in the wilderness. (Also an incredible story…) I can imagine Isaac sitting up at night pondering the incredible responsibility placed upon him to care for his growing family, and then the Lord appears to him with exactly what he needs to hear…

I am with you.

This is, I think, the first instance of an allusion to one of Jesus’s names, Immanuel. God with us.

Chills.

Fear Not # 3- He is with us.

Fear Not # 2- He hears us in the place where we are.

Fear Not # 1- He is our shield.

Genesis 21:17

There is just something about the way that much of the old testament is written that makes it easy to go “Wow… these people were jerks.” Much of Genesis tells the story of Abraham, recipient of one of the most incredible promises that God makes in the old testament, that Abraham’s children would number more than the stars in the sky. Abraham had some incredible faith, but he also did some pretty awful things (at least… awful by today’s standards). I suppose it’s a great example of how you don’t have to be perfect for God to use you… you just have to be willing.

With that, let’s take a look at the second instance of the phrase “do not be afraid” in the bible! Today it’s Genesis 21:17. At this point in time, Sarah’s servant Hagar has conceived and given birth to Abraham’s firstborn son Ishmael. Ishmael is a young teen, and was mocking his younger half-brother for some unspecified reason (plenty of baggage there to spur a nice sibling rivalry if you think about it…) For Sarah, who seems a bit crotchety and not exactly tender toward her servant if you ask me, this is the last straw. She commands Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham has a difficult time of it, seeing as Ishmael is still his son, but God reassures Abraham that even Ishmael will be blessed as his heir. So away they go, sent away with nothing but bread and a waterskin, which quickly empties in the wilderness and Hagar and Ishmael are left to die. Hagar can’t stand to hear her child suffering, so she leaves him under a bush and wanders away to sob on her own as her son cries, so that she might not have to hear him as he dies. And that is when God steps in…

(17) God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. (18) Get up, help the boy up, and sustain him, for I will make him a great nation.” (19) Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink.

I don’t know about you, but I get chills from the angel’s words. God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. Most translations simply say “God has heard the voice of the boy (or the boy crying) where he is”, a few say “from the bushes” or “as he lies there” but there is just something about that line no matter how it is translated. Something about God hearing us at our most broken, our most destitute, our most desperate. That moment when you feel the most as if you are alone, abandoned even by the ones who love you the most, laying there simply waiting to die, God hears you.

I think we all have had those “alone” moments. I remember mine most poignantly- I was in the midst of my worst season with anxiety, in the early summer of last year. I was sitting on the couch, alone in my apartment, and absolutely stricken for no apparent reason. I couldn’t move, and just sat there on the couch crying and wondering where my God was. I wanted so desperately in that moment to feel Jesus’ arms wrapped around me, but instead I felt utterly alone. It was a horrible time as I cried out to Him and heard no answer. But a few days later, God was revealing to me that He had never left my side, and He brought that moment to my mind. I thought I had been completely abandoned in hopeless fear, but He spoke to me and reminded me that He will never leave me or forsake me. That even in my darkest hour of fear, He was there and He heard my voice from the place where I was. And now, when I am stricken with anxiety, I can look back and remember that even though in that moment I did not feel His presence, He was yet there, and I can be assured that He is with  me now and always, and He hears my cries.

If you are a parent then you probably have an entirely different perspective on this one than I do. I know my mom has a good story about learning to trust God with her little boy’s wellbeing- maybe she will share it in the comments. :)

What are your thoughts?

Fear Not #1- He is our shield.

Fear Not #2- He hears us in the place where we are.

Genesis 15:1

Wow! A lot of crazy stuff happens in the bible before God is ever documented as saying “do not be afraid”. I don’t know about you, but if I were Noah I would have liked a little reassurance like that. But nope, it wasn’t until a seemingly random visit to Abram that the words are first spoken. Of course that isn’t to say that the ONLY dialogue that passed between the Lord and His people is all that is written in the bible. There may have been a bit more elaboration as to the whole “build a crazy ridiculously huge boat” thing.

Anyway, the passage in which “fear not” first appears is as follows:

After these events (Abram met with Melchizidek, priest of the Most High at Salem, who blessed him and prophesied that he was greatly blessed), the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield;

your reward will be very great.

But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued- “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:1-3)

Following this passage, the Lord tells Abram that he will give him a son. However, just previously in Genesis 14, Abram had participated in a battle against great odds to rescue his nephew Lot and his people, who had been taken prisoner during warfare. So God’s assertion to Abram that he is his “shield” is hearkening back to this event and reminding Abram of how God had been with him even in the midst of a battle that he shouldn’t have won. If Abram needed any convincing that he could trust God that his reward would be great, it was there in that little reminder that He was his shield.

So here we have the first introduction not only of the words “do not  be afraid”, but also of God giving Himself a title of sorts; teaching His children who He really is, what He is capable of, and how we can relate to Him: I am your shield.

That’s pretty cool.

Fear Not Project

I am starting a new project this year! Some of you may know that I have struggled this year with anxiety. I have found incredible solace in verses like Matthew 10:31- Do not be afraid, you are of more value than many sparrows. The bible says some variant of “do not be afraid” many, many times and I find great comfort simply in the sheer volume of those words. To me, it says that God knows how much there is in this world that causes us to fear. He knows what we are going through when we are crippled by anxiety, whether it’s a phobia or depression or fear of the future (that last one is me). He understands, and in His word He gives us permission to cast our cares on Him and let it go! Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Recently I read that the bible says some variant of “fear not” 365 times. I don’t know if that number is perfectly accurate, but I am going to find out. My devotional project for this year is to journey through the bible, from Genesis to Revelation, finding every instance of God saying “do not be afraid!” or some variant, and sharing it with you in context. I don’t know about you, but I need this. The world is a scary place. With the internet we are all so dang connected that the instant something bad happens, the entire world knows about it. I love twitter but in terms of being scared crapless by the sudden swoop and instant worldwide conversation about any given disaster, twitter is a bad place for me to be. Another time I may share more about my particular anxieties…but not today.

I am working on getting a handle on the things that trigger ‘panic mode’ for me and learning to control my thoughts. No running away in my mind into fear-inducing scenarios that haven’t even happened! My goal through the Fear Not Project is to fill my mind with the living word of Jesus Christ, the word that says that I am a child of God and I do not have to be afraid of anything! After all, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

I hope this project will encourage you to lay your burden of anxiety down at the feet of your Father, who cares for you more than you can imagine. I know I am not the only one who deals with this. So please join me on this journey of learning to combat fear with the words that come straight from the mouth of our very, very big God!

Bird

Goals

Here it is, the requisite year end goal-setting post! I’m not making any resolutions, just setting a few tangible-yet-ambitious goals that I would like to try to accomplish this year. Looking back on my Day Zero goals, I actually accomplished a lot of the things on that list- but I think it’s time to let that one go and focus on a few bigger goals now. But just so I don’t leave you hanging, here’s where I currently stand with my Day Zero list: