Thursday, January 26, 2017

What are you afraid of?

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? - Deuteronomy 10:12-13

This is where my Bible app was waiting for me this morning. Well, it's a few chapters down, but it takes a while to give 140ml of formula s-l-o-w-l-y through a naso-gastric feeding tube, so I ended up here. I've thought it before, but was reminded this morning that to ''fear the Lord'' by necessity requires that we do not fear anything else. Either we fear the one (God), or we fear the other (anything). The reason I think these are mutually exclusive is that the moments when we let fear of the other keep us from obedience to the One, we are losing sight of who God really is. 

Does this look scary? I've definitely had moments where it's hit me that way!

Diagnosis: Massive Destruction of the Brain Matter

Our impromptu nurses station set up in the bathroom of the hotel. This doesn't include the pile of supplies at the foot of Mira's bed!
It's possible even scarier to become the instant mother of a teenage girl!

But in both of those situations, there is One who can take away that fear. If I am serious about obedience to my God, I can not let fear of any other thing prevent me from that. I think there's a reason that the passage above ends the way it does - all of this is for our good! And it's no accident that that same passage is followed by this next verse:

Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. - Deuteronomy 10:14

If this is the God that is on my side, of whom (or what) should I be afraid?

No one!

If God is calling you to something that scares you, stop and think for a moment about what you are going to fear as you live your life.

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