Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” – Isaiah 35:3-4
We operate on a continuum with two poles. A lot of the time, we Christians will say
those poles are fear and faith. So we
will say to our fearful and anxious friends – or to my fearful and anxious self
– Have faith in God. I think, though, we
can be fooled by the neat alliteration.
Perhaps the other pole -- the non-fear pole, is really love. When we read those two verses above, we know
we ought to buck up and be strong.
Why? Because God will come and
save us. And why would God do a thing
like that? Because He loves us.
If you look at most of humanity for most of history, it’s
not a very pretty picture. I am fairly
convinced of the depravity of human nature.
There’s more proof of it every day.
There are wars and rumors of wars, disasters, oppression, and disease --
it seems, on every side. Some will say
we are surrounded by the wicked.
I’m reminded of that passage we’ve talked about in 2 Kings 6
where we read of Elisha’s servant terrified by the horses and chariots of the
Syrians which had surrounded the city.
Elisha prays that his servant’s eyes be opened, and the man sees that it
is really the Syrian army that is surrounded by the Lord’s host – a “…mountain
full of horses and chariots of fire …” protecting the man of God.
Elisha had faith because he knew the love of God. I was thinking about betrayal and traitors
and unfaithfulness last night. I do not
have many good qualities. I have maybe
one: I am loyal. I will not turn my back on a friend, even if
it means both of us get the crap pounded out of us. Dante tells us that the deepest circle of
hell is reserved for the traitor. In
other words, that is the farthest you can get from God. So the one Person who will never fail you is
God.
As much as God hates betrayal, so much He loves the
traitor. Right there in the garden when
Judas betrayed his Lord with a kiss, Jesus yet called him “friend”. He would have forgiven Judas the same as He
did the rest who fled, and Peter who, in fear, denied Him. The love of God knows no bounds, and this is
the reason we can be strong and be not afraid.
This is the reason we can have faith regardless of the terrors that
array themselves against us. This is the
reason we must have faith.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:18-19)
