Grace in Two Small Words
“Fear
not, thou
worm Jacob, and ye
men of Israel; I will help ye,
saith
the LORD,
and thy
Redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel."
-Isaiah
41:14 [KJV]
This
text gives us grace in two small words.
What are the 2
words?
They are, “Fear
Not.”
In
the Middle East there is an ancient fable that Pestilence met a
caravan on the way to Baghdad.
“Why must you travel to
Baghdad?” asked the Caravan Master. “To take five thousand
lives,” he answered.
On the way back Pestilence again
met the caravan.
“You deceived me,” said the Caravan master.
“You took 50,000 lives.”
“No,’ insisted Pestilence.
‘I took 5,000 lives. Fear killed the rest.”
That is a
fable.
But, here’s a fact … fear kills.
At one
time or another, most of us have been gripped with fear. It’s no
wonder then that these two words, ‘Fear Not’ are found frequently
throughout the scriptures. In fact, the phrases, "Fear
not" or "Be not afraid", occur more than 100 times in
the King James Bible.
In all our fears may we learn to
look to Jesus. He is the antidote to fear, anxiety and worry.
When
the Lord applies these two words ‘fear not’ to our hearts, they
sustain and support us.
Consider the context of our
verse. The people of Israel had just found out they were going to be
sent into captivity to Babylon. They needed a word from the Lord, and
He gave it … “Fear Not!” The Lord was on their side. Consider
this; if the Lord is on our side, all must eventually be well.
The
Lord is all-sufficient for every emergency and each need. In
Christ we lack nothing. In Christ, we are graced with all-sufficient,
spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). In Christ, we have
enough to meet every necessity.
"Fear
not."
“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The
clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In
blessings on your head.” -Wm.
Cowper
Notice
how the people of Israel are called worms yet the Lord has grace for
them. And that’s the way it is with us. Jesus takes us at our worst
and gives us grace. If He only took notice of us when we were great
and continually strong, we would perish. But the Lord looks at us in
our lowest … when we are down in the depths and gives us grace.
Fear not!
These two words, ‘Fear Not’ revive, restore
and renew us. He is not scolding us … He’s NOT
saying, ”Here you!! You’d best fear not! Now get it straight!”
No! He says … “Fear not, I will help you. I, Yahweh will support
you."
We
look at the future and there seems to be a mountain of rugged
obstacles fast approaching us … But, here’s the good news. God is
the God of the mountains. He is with us, no matter what we are going
through. Fear Not!
Because of the shed blood of Calvary
there is no longer separation between us and God. There are no
mountains of division. As Paul says, “For
I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans
8:38-39).
Fear
not, Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus.
“And though this world, with devils
filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for
God has willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince
of darkness grim—
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can
endure,
For lo! his doom is sure,
Two
little words
shall fell him.”—Martin
Luther
Fear
Not!
And
that’s the Gospel Truth!
-preacher D. G. Miles McKee
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