a sudanese little girl, whose family went through egypt to come to israel. she has darker skin, so probably more from the south of sudan than the north. so, so precious.
reading today, i came across a passage in isaiah, about fear. something i’ve been learning lately is that God tells us not to fear. He doesn’t say “give me your fears”. He usually says, ‘Do not fear.’ i guess that can sound a little impossible. but so does thanking God for everything, and i find that works pretty well.
so God says to isaiah,
“ Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’
Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,
Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.
The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear,
And let Him be your dread.”
God is talking about israel’s fears…what is it israel fears? well, they spend the majority of national money on military defense. i guess that’s a clue. if they’re defending that hard and that strong, they must be afraid of something… of a ‘conspiracy’, or an ‘alliance’. in my other translation… of what? of arabs? of christians? of anyone but jews?
God is telling isaiah not to fear what israel fears. He’s saying to only fear God.
so, i should not fear what israel fears. does that mean i love the arabs pointing missiles at us? yeah. you know, a simple command “do not fear” makes it so clear…
israel’s fear not only self obstructs, they directly cause a “stumbling block” and “rock of offense” to be placed in their way. it’s like they feed their own fear— making them need to pour more money into their own defense.
but what else does israel’s fear cause? a lack of love and ability to reach out to those who need. israel is called the “chosen” people…”chosen” for a purpose. what purpose? to be God’s people, and reach out to the nations.
but her fear is keeping her from fulfilling that purpose. and, as one small example, the sudanese are suffering for it. israel is unable to help these refugees, in a way that God meant for them to be able to.
fear God, and nothing else.
isaiah 8.
