Throughout all of Biblical history God has used heathen kings and rulers to accomplish His work. In this Scripture, God used the Persian Emperor, Artaxerxes, to offer Nehemiah government funding and military escort to rebuild the wall surrounding Jerusalem. In Exodus 9:16, Moses declared God’s message to Pharaoh, “But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you My power and that My Name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Even Pilate was used of God. For when Pilate threatened Jesus that he had the ultimate authority to either crucify or free Him…Jesus replied, ” You have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above.” ( John 19:11) Those in power have never been or will ever be beyond the reach of God’s hand…for it tells us in Proverbs 21:1, The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.”
II Corinthians 4:16-17 ” Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
The apostle Paul who wrote this is probably one of the best examples of someone who looked beyond discouragement and refused to give in to despair. For here Paul calls the overwhelming mental, physical, and spiritual distress he has endured as “light and momentary troubles.” But how could he do this? The answer is simple…he was allowing the Lord to renew and restore his mind daily…or as Colossians 3:10 tells us, “Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” When we become discouraged, fearful, or overcome with the current troubles in the world today, we need to be reminded that as we go through all these hardships, they are achieving for us righteousness and eternal glory for His namesake. Therefore, we do not lose heart.
I Chronicles 28:9 ” And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”
Ulterior motives, lip service, or selfish plans and purposes…God sees through them all. We may think we’re fooling everyone with our holier than thou attitude…but we’re not fooling God for a moment. What He wants from us is authenticity, integrity, and a open heart. For those are things He can work with! And I’m really sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s not all about you or what you think you need to be doing that He wants today. We are instead to be seeking His face always, not our own selfish agendas.
John 8:12 ” When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ “
The question today is…are you walking in the light or in the darkness? Are you allowing panic, anxiety, and fear to rule and reign in your life or are you putting your trust and confidence in Jesus Christ? Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” While verse 19 says, “But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they don’t know what makes them stumble.” If you’re allowing the fear of the unknown to over-ride good judgment today, I urge you to stop…take a really deep breath…and consider. A wonderful word out of the Psalms is Selah…to pause. Pause to consider what has been the driving force behind all your actions lately. Is it fear or faith…panic or peace…agitation or assurance?
Psalm 68:20 ” Our God is a God Who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.”
In looking up the Hebrew words in this short verse, I found some interesting things. First, the Hebrew word for “saves” here occurs only once in the Old Testament…its meaning – deliverance. Next, the Hebrew word for “Lord” is the covenant name of God. Finally, the Hebrew word for “death” here means deadly sickness or plague. We need to be reminded today that our God is a covenant-keeping God who delivers us out of all our calamities and distresses. (I Samuel 10:19) And as the Psalmist wrote, “You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before You in the light of life.” (Psalm 56:13) And as both Jeremiah and Ezekiel proclaimed… it’s only from the Lord that comes escape.
Acts 17:23 ” For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: To an unknown God. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”
The world seems to be worshiping at the altar of the god of the unknown right now…trying to appease something they don’t understand…filled with panic rather than peace. But here Paul recognized this and instead pointed the people of Athens to the one true God. In talking to the Samaritan woman at the well Jesus spoke of this, “You Samaritans worship what you don’t know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4:22-23) Bottom line, the world needs Jesus right now. They need to turn away from the god of the unknown with all its distress and fear and instead face their Savior, Jesus Christ, and receive peace and comfort. So ponder this… now might become one of the most important times in modern Church history for souls coming to Jesus out of fear and desperation. The question is – Are you ready to make the unknown known to them?
I Timothy 4:10 “…that we have put our hope in the living God, Who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
God is the God of all people whether they know Him or not. This phenomenon is called Common Grace. It is the good and undeserved kindness of God that He shows to all mankind – the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you think about it, every person on the earth at one time or another has been ill, injured, or in trouble…only to be healed, restored, or rescued in some secular sense, regardless if they know God or have never heard His name before. For as God says to us all in Isaiah 54:8, “But with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you.”
Hebrews 13:1 ” Keep on loving each other as brothers.”
The kind of love spoken about here is Philadelphia, or brotherly love…a Christian love, one to another, born out of a common spiritual life. But let’s admit it…some fellow Christians are just plain hard to love! They rub us the wrong way, are argumentative, and are always seeing the glass half empty sort of people. But the Scripture here calls us to keep on loving, despite how we feel. By simply asking the Lord to see them through His eyes may give us insight into the why…but for many times, it will have to be our attitude that changes not theirs.
II Timothy 1:7 ” For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.”
Fear of the unknown…it seems like the entire world is reacting. So how can we as Believers respond the most appropriately to it? First, let’s ask ourselves a few questions. Has the Lord suddenly lost control and climbed down off His throne? The answer is no, for Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Next, do we believe in the authority and sufficiency of God’s word? If the answer is yes, then we must believe this Scripture that God did not give us a spirit of fear but of strength, love, and a sound mind…a sound mind meaning wisdom, good judgment, and prudence. And if this is so, we must also believe Scriptures such as Hebrews 2:51 that exhort us to not give in and become a slave to fear. Finally, as Paul exhorted Timothy to lead by example, we must then apply our God-given sound mind to everyday actions, all the while praying Psalm 91 to counteract this fear of the unknown.
Job 1:9-10 ” Does Job fear God for nothing? Satan replied. Have You not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?”
Satan accused Job before God by challenging Job’s motive. Satan claimed that Job lived as he did because he was blessed of God and had not suffered or paid the price for God’s continuing grace in his life. He questioned Job’s godliness as being just a means to financial gain, not true reverence. The Accuser ,Satan, is always lurking around, contesting, shaming, and heaping guilt… but remember this – he is powerless to penetrate that hedge of protection God has placed around us…unless we allow him.
Safetypinlove 