"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." ~ Deuteronomy14:2

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: August 4


“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” ~ Psalm 27:1

There is no greater suffering than the suffering from fear. Your fear may differ from mine [Eugenia Price, the author’s], but the same tightness that squeezes your heart and the rhythm of your life jerks along at the same uneven tempo. You feel you will be able to soar again when the light returns. “When it’s daylight,” you say, “I’ll be all right.” But the sun comes up and you are still afraid. You may go on to work, acting as though your fear has gone. But your heart knows better, and so does God.

If we are Christians, how do we reconcile this continued suffering from fear, with the fact that God Himself is our light and our strength? Doesn’t the Bible say this? Yes it does. “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee …”

Then why don’t we act like it? I am more and more convinced that fearful Christians are simply partially unbelieving Christians. We can be Christians and still not believe all God has to say. And the Lord Himself said, “Fear not,” before He reminded us that He had redeemed us. “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee …” We are to “fear not” because He has redeemed us!

It is up to Him to see through both the dark nights and the nervous days. The psalmist is merely witnessing from his own experience when he declares: “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

I rejoice that David included that word “all.” I am also relieved that David admitted his own fears. Fear is common to everyone. The devil likes to discourage us with it. Don’t fall in that trap. “What time I am afraid,” sang David, “I will trust thee.” We do not need to endure the suffering of fear.

“… whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil … when thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.”

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