Jesus makes us worthy in God’s eyes
II Samuel 9:7 – Saul and Jonathan have died in battle, and David is king. He asks his servants to find someone related to Saul, and they find Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. He is unable to walk, but that doesn’t matter, because he is a member of the family and thus worthy of respect in the king’s eyes. David tells the man, #FearNot, I will be kind to you because I love your father, you will own the lands of your family, and you will eat at the king’s table all your days.
For love of Jonathan, David searched for someone he could bless in his friend’s honor. For love of Jesus, God searches for those He can bless in His Son’s honor. Our crippled condition matters nothing in light of our relationship to Jesus – He makes us worthy in the King’s eyes. #FearNot
God knows the motives of each heart
II Samuel 13:28 – Here’s another messy one, and a challenge. If you like soap operas, here’s a story for you. David has several wives, and by them, several sets of children. In one group is Amnon, in another, Absalom and his lovely sister Tamar.
Amnon is in lust over Tamar, and finds a ruse to rape her – then he discards her as trash. When Absalom finds out, he tells Tamar to keep quiet and forget the whole thing. David finds out and gets quite angry, but no one confronts Amnon for two years. “Desolate” is the word that describes Tamar for the rest of her days.
After two years, Absalom invites all the sons of David to a dinner and orders his servants to kill Amnon once he is sufficiently drunk. #FearNot, he tells them, “you’re following my orders.” The guilt of their actions is to fall on him as their master.
Frankly, everyone in the story, with the exception of Tamar, is guilty. Her half brother is a rapist and a scoundrel, her brother an insensitive murderer-by-proxy, and her father a spineless coward. But that’s another article for another day. What, if anything, does this mess tell us about God, and what can be said for the “fear not” found on Absalom’s tongue?
This: God knows the motives of every heart, so the hearts with no malice have nothing to fear from Him. Mind your motives and #FearNot.
Honor God first, and He will supply
I Kings 17:13 – Several kings have come and gone in the life of Israel, which is now divided into Israel and Judah. A few (very few) honor God and lead their people well – the rest go from bad to worse.
Ahab is on the throne of Israel, and Elijah the prophet tells him that there will be no rain, not even dew. God provides a brook and a raven delivery service to keep Elijah nourished for a while, then sends him to live with a widow in Zarephath. He finds her gathering sticks, and asks her for a drink and a bit of bread. Her supplies were about to run out, and she was preparing one last bite for herself and her son, then she expected they would die.
#FearNot, Elijah tells her, make your food, but first bring me a little, because God promises your supplies will not run out until we have rain again. She honored God by honoring His prophet, and God kept His promise, as He always does. Day after day, she made bread from a jar of oil and a bowl of flour that were always nearly but never truly empty.
In the wilderness there was manna for each day – just enough for one day, and always enough again on the next day. In The Lord’s Prayer we are taught to ask Our Father to give us today our daily bread. As we honor God, He will provide for us. #FearNot
Greater are the hosts than the hordes
II Kings 6:16 – Elijah’s days are over and Elisha is now the prophet of God to Israel. The king of Syria has been attacking Israel, and losing. When he seeks to learn the name of the mole in his army, he is told that the God in Heaven tells his secrets to Elisha the prophet, who tells the king of Israel. When God is the spy, what’s a king to do?
He chooses to get Elisha out of the way and his armies surround the city. When Elisha’s servant sees the dire situation, Elisha tells him to #FearNot, for greater are those with us than those against us. Then Elisha asks God to open the eyes of his servant so that the young man can see that the Lord’s Army has things well in hand.
This story is repeated by missionaries of recent centuries who, fearing for their lives, spend the night in prayer and rise the next morning to learn that their enemies ran in terror from the great army of defenders. #FearNot – greater are the hosts of heaven than the hordes of earth and hell.
You can choose freedom
II Kings 17:34 – This “fear not” is different, because it is embedded in the statement “they fear not God.” It is a statement of character rather than a directive, and not a good one at that.
The leaders and people of Israel and Judah continued their on-again off-again dependence upon God. This time, they were overrun by the Assyrians who played mix-and-match with their captives from various countries, placing them throughout the land of Samaria. The Assyrians noted that disaster was afoot because the people did not “follow the manner of the God of the land,” so they brought in a captive priest to teach the people, Israelites included, about God and how to properly honor Him. In verse 33, it says they feared the Lord and served their own gods.
“And” – it’s a word that inevitably becomes “or” when discussing what our lives will be devoted to. We are finite creatures, we don’t have what it takes to satisfy two sets of priorities, and so we will necessarily neglect one to satisfy the other. Joshua said “Choose this day who you will serve” in Joshua 24:15; and Jesus tells us in Matt 6:24 “You cannot serve God and mammon,” because one will be served and the other will be resented. Jesus invites us to seek first God’s kingdom and find all our needs met; and to come to Him for rest, a light burden, and an easy yoke because He shares it with us. (Matt 6:33, 11:28-30)
Like the people of II Kings 17, we have a choice. We can serve “God-And” and be overburdened, failing to serve God at all; or we can serve “God-Alone” and be uncluttered and well cared for. #FearNot, you can choose freedom from competing priorities.
God has even the dark under control
II Kings 25:24 – Between Egypt and Babylon, the city of Jerusalem is destroyed, the temple demolished, the implements and decorations taken for plunder, the king captured and replaced, priests captured, and many people killed. The poorest and lowest are left to tend the fields and vineyards, and a man named Gedaliah is placed over them as their ruler.
Gedaliah’s grandfather Shaphan was the scribe who received the long lost scrolls from Hilkiah the priest and brought them to Josiah the king – the only good king in generations before & since. Gedaliah’s father Ahikam stood with Jeremiah when he spoke God’s words to the people against Jerusalem for their sins. Over and again the word came that Jerusalem would fall to the Babylonians for a time, and that God was more than aware, He was in control.
And so it happened, Nebuchadnezzar ruled over the land and Gedaliah was made governor over the people. This is the condition they were in for this season, as it was foretold by Jeremiah. Based on this, he told the people #FearNot, plant and gather, serve the Babylonians. Some who had fled to nearby territories returned to work the land and be with their countrymen under Gedaliah.
Sometimes, we get what we ask for, and the thing to do is take our lumps and move on. God warned them, as He warns us – the wise will look to Him during the season of “lumps” and #FearNot. Even in the dark, God is in charge.
God will see your work get done
I Chron 28:20 – Back in the last days of King David, he wished to build a temple for God, and God through Nathan told him that his son Solomon would build it. Now, Solomon is being commissioned by David to take on the massive work of building the temple. The verse can stand alone without much explanation:
“Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.”
When we have an assignment, God is faithful to stand by us and supply us until our mission is fulfilled, for His glory – #FearNot.