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As
we approach the end of this millennium, no matter
how much shaking there may be economically, politically,
socially or technologically, no matter how chaotic
the world may become, we can have "shalom shalom"
- "perfect peace" - in the midst of it all.
We shouldn't be afraid to face the future, no
matter what it may bring, for five reasons.
First,
we shouldn't be afraid because we know who God
is.
He is sovereign, which means He is the King of
the universe and Lord over all things. So, joined
to Him by faith, we come under our Lord's protection.
He is in control. No one can thwart His purpose,
His counsel, or His will. All is well, and will
end well.
He is
also omniscient, wise, good, merciful and loving,
so joined to Him by faith, we have all the knowledge,
wisdom, protection, mercy and love we will ever
need to face the future. God is infinite, so joined
to Him by faith, we have infinite resources to
meet our needs. Let us therefore trust Him and
look confidently to the future.
He is
Elohim - God, the source of all power, might and
strength. When we feel weak, we can go to the
All-Powerful One, who will infuse us with strength
and empower us to do what He calls us to do. Where
God is, there is all power, all help and all love.
Since He is all-powerful, therefore we are all-protected.
Why should we be afraid?
He is
El Shaddai - the All-Sufficient God. As a nursing
mother cares for her little children, so God completely
nourishes and satisfies His people. He has committed
Himself to see to their needs. He is all-sufficient,
so our help is adequate for every situation.
He is
El Emunah - the Faithful God. He is completely
reliable. You can trust Him completely, both in
this life and with your eternal destiny. Men and
their systems may fail you, but the Faithful God
will never let you down. He is completely worthy
of your trust.
He is
Immanuel - God With Us. He is not, as some claim,
distant or far removed from our situation. He
longs to be with us, and He wants us to be with
Him forever. The Lord encouraged His faithful
remnant with these words: Do not fear, for
I am with you; do not anxiously look about you,
for I am your God. I will strengthen you,
surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you
with My righteous right hand. Where God is,
there is strength. Where God is, there is help.
Where God is, there is security. He is with us
to strengthen, help and protect us. Therefore
we should not fear, or look anxiously about. To
Isaac, God said, Do not fear, for I am with
you. To Joshua, faced with the difficult task
of bringing the Jewish people into the land of
Israel, God said, Be strong and courageous!
Do not tremble or de dismayed, for the Lord your
God is with you wherever you go. When God
is with us, we can be strong and courageous. We
need not tremble or be afraid.
He is
El Yeshuati - the God of My Salvation. God Himself
is the source of our personal, individual salvation.
He is a God who has time and again intervened
in history to save His people. Where He is, there
is victory, salvation, and deliverance to meet
every situation.
He is
Adonai Nisi - the Lord My Miracle, or the Lord
My Banner. If we need a miracle, Adonai is the
One to whom we can turn. In the midst of life's
raging battles we see Him high and lifted up.
If we keep our eyes Him, we will be miraculously
upheld, as Simon Peter learned on the waters of
the Kinneret.
He is
our Refuge and Fortress. I will say to the
Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom
I trust!" Are we facing danger? God is our
refuge to whom we may flee, and in whom we are
safe. God is a far better refuge than our armies
and our technology. He is the place to which refugees
may flee from all the tumult of their lives. He
is a fortress from all attacks - from fire, flood
and storm, from war and famine, from trials and
difficulties. As a result, when we are sheltered
in Him, we need not fear.
He is
our Shield. The Word of the Lord came to Abraham
saying, "Do not fear Avram, I am a shield to you;
your reward will be very great." As our shield,
God protects us from danger. The Lord took father
Abraham through many difficult circumstances,
shielding him from danger throughout his long
life, and He will do the same for you.
He is
our Rock. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in
whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn
of my salvation, my stronghold. Dwelling among
the rocks and mountain hideouts of Judea, David
was able to escape from Saul. David compares God
to such a place of concealment and safety. God
is a rock in the sense of firmness, stability,
unchangeableness and support.
He is
the Cornerstone. The stone which the builders
rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This
is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
And God, speaking to the prophet Isaiah, added,
Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I am laying
in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone
for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes
will not be disturbed." The world is full
of shoddy architecture and inferior building materials,
which may not survive the shocks that may come.
Such structures may fall. But God is laying one
very special stone, a foundation stone whose nature
is solid, firm, immovable and enduring. God has
established from the midst of the Jewish people
a source of comfort, strength and security for
those who trust in Him, but the same Rock will
crush those who oppose Him. The Son of God is
that cornerstone - rare, precious, valuable, strong
and enduring. He is a tested stone. He is the
standard against which we are all measured. He
is what God expects from mankind. He has been
tried and tested and found more than sufficient
to support the weight of everything that God is
building on Him. The person who puts his trust
in God and in Messiah Yeshua will not be disturbed.
He can have a peace and serenity which is not
otherwise possible. He has built his life on the
most solid foundation possible, both in this world,
and in the world to come. So what should we build
our lives on? The shifting sand of humanity, or
the Chief Cornerstone?
He is
our Light and Salvation. The Lord is my light
and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord
is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread?
God is a light to those who believe in Him, to
show them the way when they are in doubt, to comfort
them when they have sorrow. It is by the truth
and wisdom He gives that they now walk on their
way, and on an eternally well-lit path. If the
Lord is my light, I fear no darkness. If the Lord
is my salvation, and the defense and protector
of my life, what circumstance will I fear?
God is
a very present help in trouble. God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should
change, and though the mountains slip into the
heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
Are we weak? God is our strength, to bear
us up under our burdens, equipping us for our
duties and responsibilities, our sufferings if
need be, and for every good work. If God is my
strength, then I need not fear my weakness. Are
we surrounded by troubles? God's help is continually
at hand for each difficulty encountered. With
God as a very present help, fear is unnecessary
and even irrational. With God as our refuge, strength
and help, it is our duty to be fearless. We will
not fear, whatever may happen, even if it is as
severe as the earth changing before our eyes.
If everything familiar to us is suddenly changed,
even to the extent that the mighty mountains collapse
before us and fall into the sea, so that nothing
of them remains, we have no reason to fear. Should
the oceans roar and rage, and the world be in
confusion, yet we will not fear, knowing that
God is with us, and His all-sufficient help is
there for us.
Habakkuk,
who lived just before king Nebuchadnezzar devastated
the nation of Israel, faced his future with these
encouraging thoughts: Though the fig tree should
not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines,
though the yield of the olive should fail, and
the fields produce no food, though the flock should
be cut off from the fold and there be no
cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the
Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my
feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on high
places (3:17-19). If you know God,
you can be calm in the time of trial. You can
have joy in the God of your salvation in spite
of the world falling apart around you. Even with
crops failing, herds dying and the prospect of
famine, the Lord God will be your strength and
sustaining power. If you keep trusting Him, He
will make your feet like a gazelle's feet, full
of sure-footed confidence. He will enable you
to surmount all obstacles. Therefore, we shouldn't
be afraid, because we know who God is.
Second,
we shouldn't be afraid, if we will remember how
God has acted in the past.
God has shown Himself faithful to deliver so many
from such difficult circumstances before. Noah
survived the Flood. God delivered the Jewish people
from the strongest nation on earth. God sent plague
after plague which destroyed the land of Egypt,
but the Jewish people, living in its midst, were
protected. We safely passed through the Red Sea,
while the Egyptian army which followed was destroyed.
He was able to sustain several million Jewish
people for forty years in a harsh, desert wilderness.
He was able to bring water out of a rock, and
manna from heaven to feed them. He then enabled
Joshua to conquer the Canaanites, and bring our
people into the land of promise.
Gideon
courageously followed God in the face of vastly
superior forces. Leading a mere three hundred
men against the Midianite invaders, he routed
them, and during the ensuing battles, Gideon's
army killed more than 120,000 invaders, bringing
deliverance to Israel.
Deborah
and Barak laid hold of God, and the impossible
became possible. God stepped in with a storm and
flood, and the Canaanites' nine hundred iron chariots
became bogged down in the mud. The Jewish army
destroyed the chariots, the entire Canaanite army
and its fearsome leader Sisera.
Even after
his dreadful fall, Samson laid hold of God for
one last surge of power. After losing his strength,
and being captured by the Philistines, he was
blinded, paraded and mocked in the temple of Dagon.
The Philistines allowed him to stand between two
of the main pillars that upheld the temple. Then
Samson prayed to the Lord, grasped the two middle
pillars, pushed against them with all his might,
and the temple of Dagon fell. Samson killed more
of his enemies in his death than in his life.
Was there
ever a person who endured so many trials and difficulties
as King David? Young David, alone out of all Israel,
was willing to face the giant Goliath in single
combat. David, the shepherd, without armor, carrying
only a sling and some stones, but filled with
faith in God, prevailed over the nine foot giant.
God was
able to sustain the prophet Eliyahu, hiding by
the brook Cherith, by supplying him bread and
meat in the morning and again in the evening,
by means of ravens who brought his food to him.
God was
able to feed the widow of Zarephath, who had just
a little flour in a bowl, and a little oil in
a jar, and was on the verge of starving to death.
She befriended the prophet Eliyahu and, because
of her faithfulness, was provided by God with
an inexhaustible supply of both flour and oil.
Can't He do the same for you?
Second
Kings chapter 4 records that a wife of one of
the "sons of the prophets" found herself in desperate
financial straits. Her godly husband had died,
and she had gone into debt. Things got so bad
that the creditors had come to take her children
and sell them into slavery to pay off her debts.
She had nothing in her house except a jar of oil.
The prophet Elisha told her to borrow many jars
from her neighbors. She listened to the prophet,
gathered jars, and the oil from her one jar kept
on pouring, miraculously multiplying until it
filled all the vessels that she had. She was able
to sell that oil, pay off all her debts, and still
have enough for herself and her children to live
on. Can't He can do the same for you?
When wicked
king Ahaziah wanted to arrest Elijah, Elijah called
down fire from heaven which burned up 100 men.
When he was surrounded by the army of Syria, Elisha,
too, knew how to call upon God in order to have
the protection of heavenly armies. Hungry lions
could do no injury to faithful Daniel, for God
sent an angel to shut the lions= mouths. God saved
Daniel's three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and
Azariah, who preferred to be thrown alive into
a burning furnace rather than deny God by bowing
down before the image of the king.
The lessons
to be learned from the lives of these men and
women are that joined by faith to the living God,
marvelous deliverances can be accomplished. Incredible
victories can be won against superior forces.
The impossible becomes possible. Life can be sustained
under the most difficult circumstances.
Next month,
Lord willing, we will take a look at the other
reasons why we don't have to be afraid: because
of His precious promises, because no matter what
happens, nothing truly evil can harm us, and finally,
because of the exciting opportunities that a good
shaking will bring to the Kingdom of God.
My prayers
for you are that God may grant to you an extra
measure of boldness throughout this year, as you
faithfully proclaim the mystery of the Good News.
May you be filled with the knowledge of God's
will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
bringing glory to the Father as you live out your
life before an unbelieving world. And may you
be strengthened with all power, according to His
glorious might, for all endurance and patience,
with joy.
Shalom!
Rabbi Loren
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