December 4, 2024
Isaiah 8:12-13
Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls
conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of
hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let
him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Rather, it is to have the right kind of fear.
It deeply troubles me, probably you too, that we live in a world of widespread fear. Everywhere we look, we read, or we hear people crying, “The sky is falling". Have you found this unsettling? In politics, for example, candidates tell us that the universe will come crashing down if you elect their opponent that they are the only hope of holding things together. Fear is everywhere: fear of judgment, fear of death, fear of failure, fear of war, fear of environmental disaster, fear of the past, fear of the future, fear of rejection.
You add to the list . . . .
Choose faith over fear is often the Christian response to this dread and angst. That seems rather simple, doesn’t it? Yet there is problem, as I see it, left to our own devices we seem to lean into fear more than into faith. Perhaps there is a reason some form of “Fear Not” is one of the most common phrases in all of Scripture. So, if faith over fear is not the answer, not the solution what is?
These rather interesting words from the prophet Isaiah speak profoundly to all this, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy; he is the one you are to fear…” (Isa. 8:12-13a). Remember, the fear of the Lord" in the Bible speaks of awe and wonder of who God is, "Holy Awe", I call it. Now do you hear the message in Isaiah 8? God is reassuring his prophet that the fears infecting the people hold no staying power because God is bigger and stronger than them.
Choose faith over fear is often the Christian response to this dread and angst. That seems rather simple, doesn’t it? Yet there is problem, as I see it, left to our own devices we seem to lean into fear more than into faith. Perhaps there is a reason some form of “Fear Not” is one of the most common phrases in all of Scripture. So, if faith over fear is not the answer, not the solution what is?
These rather interesting words from the prophet Isaiah speak profoundly to all this, “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy; he is the one you are to fear…” (Isa. 8:12-13a). Remember, the fear of the Lord" in the Bible speaks of awe and wonder of who God is, "Holy Awe", I call it. Now do you hear the message in Isaiah 8? God is reassuring his prophet that the fears infecting the people hold no staying power because God is bigger and stronger than them.
Furthermore, in Jesus Christ, who Matthew's Gospel says, "bound the strong man" (Matt. 12:29), God has demonstrated his solidarity with us. He is for us, and “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31b).
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