Why Are You Fearful?

Turner, Joseph Mallord William; Fishermen at Sea; Tate; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/fishermen-at-sea-117749

Psalm 42
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.

Twice in this psalm, and once again in Psalm 43, the writer asks his soul, ‘WHY are you cast down? Why is your peace gone?!’ It is an exasperated question. He is not just curious for the answer, but is asking ‘What GOOD reason do you have to feel this frustration, fear, depression?! What has distracted you?’
The exasperation is emphasised in that he already knows the remedy to his troubled heart. He chastens his own soul and reminds himself of The Lord! Hallelujah! With the presence and provision of The Lord so close, why is my soul troubled? How can that be? But the solution is not in investigating the trouble of the heart, the solution is to turn all attention and focus on The Lord!

Psalm 42
5 … You hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His presence.

You hope in God!! His answer is to tell his soul to remember The Lord and to TRUST in Him! Remember His testimonies and His faithfulness, remember His promises, remember His great Love with which He loves us, remember that He is unchanging and true, and by faith, WAIT EXPECTANTLY on His deliverance and salvation!
The psalmist says hope NOW! He will praise NOW! He will rejoice in the victory now! He will wait EXPECTANTLY!! With such an expectant hope we can praise Him NOW for coming victory! Hallelujah! We can rejoice in the victory that’s already won!
By FAITH the writer already had the blessing! He would continue to praise and rejoice, despite his circumstance, because he truly trusted in The Lord! He chose to believe God and utterly yielded the outcome of his life to The Lord and surrendered to His will!
His flesh was suffering, his world was turning upside down, his heart was broken, everything was in turmoil… but his heart, his soul would look expectantly to The Lord and rejoice in His presence and Salvation! In the middle of the storm He chose to look to The Lord and rejoice!

Matthew 8
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And suddenly a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus was sleeping.
25 And the disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us, we are going to die!”
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

His disciples followed Him. Notice that detail. Jesus was with them. They were walking with The Lord, following His steps, living in His presence, yet the storm came! A life altering, life-threatening storm! Completely beyond their capability or control. The Good Shepherd will not always lead His sheep to the green pastures and still waters. Sometimes He will lead His sheep the difficult way, because He is the Good Shepherd and He knows how to lead His sheep.
The disciples were mostly fishermen. They would have done what they could to steady the boat. They tried… But it was when they came to the end of themselves and simply cried to Jesus that Salvation was realised! Our flesh naturally wants control, order, comfort but LIFE will only ever come from the Life giver! He alone is our EVERYTHING!
Then Jesus asks them, “Why are you fearful?”. The question is a similar tone to the writer in Psalm 42. Why?! What good reason do you have to be afraid? I am with you! It is a powerful lesson to learn that whilst we are going in the way that Jesus leads, we need fear NO evil! Our outward circumstance may seem dire, life-threatening even but Jesus asks “Why are you fearful?”
JESUS WAS SLEEPING! HIS LIFE WAS PEACEFULLY RESTING! Jesus is utterly yielded to the Father’s will! Completely trusting in Him! Jesus demonstrates, to His disciples and to us, the life that we can have in Him. There is a peace that passes understanding to be enjoyed when we truly trust our lives to The Father’s will.
Cast yourself upon Jesus’ goodness! If we truly trust then like Paul we can truly

1 Thessalonians 5
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

These are not commands that we are to obey but liberties that we can enjoy in Christ as we completely surrender ourselves to HIS will and His leading. If we truly trust in our Lord Jesus Christ we will be free to REJOICE ALWAYS!! We will pray ALWAYS! We will be so incredibly grateful for how He proves Himself faithful and true time and time and time again!! Faith ends in sight but it leads to love! Oh how we will love Him when we truly choose to trust Him. Hallelujah!
Brother, sister, why are you fearful? Why are you downcast? Why are you frustrated? Why are you without peace? Turn your eyes upon The Lord, look to Jesus! Hope you in God! Christ is in the vessel! His life is at rest! Be utterly yielded and trusting in The Father’s Will for His Will is Life and Life more abundantly for His disciples! Those who follow after Christ can rest as He does no matter how the storm rages! We can rest and rejoice in Him! Hallelujah!

Father?

Galatians 3
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

⁠Paul is writing to people who were once labelled: Jew, Greek, Gentile, Male, Female, Slave, Free… But now they are made ONE IN CHRIST JESUS!! (Ephesians 2:11-22) They are ALL Abraham’s seed!! All God’s children of faith! Not divided, not joined but made ONE! In John 17 Jesus does not pray for a bloodline but a faithline. All have been adopted! All are brought into the family! All have the privilege to call God FATHER! It is only faith that can begin to understand and appreciate the application this. All of us sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Not “Christians”, not “Jews”, not “gentiles” but ONE in Christ! Hallelujah! What a faithful, consistent, unchanging Gospel!

Galatians 4
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

We have here a beautiful picture of the trinity: GOD THE FATHER, sent THE SPIRIT of HIS SON into our hearts!! Oh, let’s give that some thought! The Spirit of HIS Son whom He sent to bear His wrath in MY place because of MY SIN so that I/we can call Him FATHER!! Oh praise His mighty name!! Truly this is the Glory of God! This is the Gospel! This is God’s GLORY!! The Father has sent the Spirit of His Son into OUR hearts so that we might call Him Father! Hallelujah!
HIS Spirit cries out to HIS Father. Do we recognise that cry in our hearts? The cry of HIS life? The cry of a child in love with their father?
Consider here the parable of the prodigal. To be His slave in God’s Kingdom would be blessed enough!! But we are HIS SONS!

Luke 15
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

We are so undeserving, but we are so incredibly blessed!! Daily! It is right to feel unworthy, but it is sin to not accept The Father’s invitation!
May we have the faith to live as His child. Not as a slave to law, not as fatherless and undisciplined, but as SONS OF GOD!
”If you go to God only by obedience, you are more slave than child.” The servant serves in the master’s household, but the child enjoys the Father’s embrace. The servant may please his master, but the child is the delight of His Father! The master provides for His servants, but He lovingly longs for and blesses His children! It is right fear God and to come before Him with reverence and humility but you will find that you pray very different when He is your Father as opposed to your Master.
Consider the joy of a child, the confidence of a child, the love, trust and admiration of a child. Consider also the dependence of a child, the obedience of a child, the beauty of a wise son. The Spirit of The Son Cries out FATHER!! It is His desire that we call upon Him! Call upon your Father for help, for HIS Life, for HIS Wisdom and blessing. Cry out to The Father to establish you in His Word and in His testimony! Enjoy Him!! Enjoy His love, His abundance and His presence!!

The Beauty of Holiness

Psalm 29
2 … worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

The beauty of Holiness is Jesus Christ! He is the fulfilment of The Law! He the Altogether Lovely One. HIS Life fulfils The Law, HIS Life abhors sin, HIS Life loves, serves, obeys, surrenders and trusts The Father! It is HIS Life within the believers who are clothed with HIS righteousness that worships The Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 93:5
“…Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.”

Holiness adorns those with whom He dwells, those who are His living temples. People altogether set apart unto Him, circumcised of heart, abhorring evil and loving His Word, allowing HIS Life and HIS Love to flow through them. Holiness is utterly dependant and completely yielded to The Father, filled with His Holy Spirit and so naturally produces HIS fruit!
Holiness is rooted in Christ’s humility. It is a life of faith naturally producing works/fruits of faith. It is Christ within, living through, who is demonstrated in the way that the believer lives. Holiness is the fruit of His life, it can be mimicked by legalism but the beauty of holiness is Christ only and always!

Revelation 4
8 …and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

I cannot try to convey or explain the Holiness of God but it is amazing to meditate on. The word holy, at its root, means set apart. Truly our God is altogether set apart from creation! He is altogether above and beyond anything man can grasp or imagine! He is altogether Sovereign over all things, He is Light, He is Truth, He is without spot or blemish, He is The One True Living God!
This is holiness and we are to worship The Lord in the beauty of that holiness. Jesus only is the beauty of holiness! How absurd it is to think that we could produce any kind of beauty through self effort in the flesh! However, “through faith”, through faithful obedience God’s Word and faithfully abiding in Him, The Spirit of God through our flesh produces the fruit, the beauty of Christ’s Holiness, HIS Life, His Heart, His Testimony! Hallelujah!
Legalism tries to mimic holiness but is rooted in pride and the elevation of flesh. It works hard to maintain standards addressing the appearance of the outward man. It focuses on the letter and on the keeping of laws in self and corporately in others. It is strife, contention, prejudice and pride. There is a great temptation to teach the law, it often produces quick results, but it does not produce Life. It is flesh breeding flesh and will only produce death!
Legalism is pride in the flesh and pride, like bad body odour, can sometimes be hard to detect in ourselves but surely stinks to others! Here are some considerations to help identify/discern our hearts.

May our lives be marked by HIS holiness, by HIS love that fulfils the law, not the flesh which strives to keep it. May we be vessels for the outflowing of HIS LIFE and the fruit of HIS SPIRIT! May we tend to our own root and trust The Holy Spirit to produce HIS Fruit in us and others. It is HIS LIFE so serve The Lord in the beauty of submission to HIS Life!

Galatians 2
18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Asking For Trouble!

Song of Solomon 4
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.

Look at this request of the Shulamite bride. Why would she ask for the cold north wind to come with risk of frost, snow and death to plant life? Or why ask for the hot, dry wind from the south bring barrenness and thirst? Why would she ask for these? She is asking for discomfort, she is asking for lack of nutrients and hardship, she is asking to be disturbed, she is asking for the unpleasant…
What she is longing for is opportunity to share the fragrance of her garden for her beloved. It is the harsh and difficult conditions that stir up the fragrances. Just as love is not love until it is proved so the fragrance won’t flow until the winds blow.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life….

Do we consider this when trials come, when our Lord brings us into those ordained hard seasons? Do we consider the testimony of Jesus and take comfort and joy in His fragrance being experienced? Is it our primary focus to consider how the Gospel might be better proclaimed? Is it evident to the world that our chains are in Christ? (Philippians 1:12-13)
Oh how I long to be a sweet fragrance of Jesus to Our Father! Oh Lord may You be seen in Your people! May we be an aroma of Christ! Lord blow upon our lives with your north and south winds and cause your fragrance to flow out. No matter the storm, I WILL YET PRAISE YOU! HALLELUJAH! I will praise The name of The Lord my God and cast myself upon Your goodness and mercy!

1 Peter 4
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.
13 But insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that when His glory is revealed, you may rejoice with great joy.
14 If you are insulted and reviled for [bearing] the name of Christ, you are blessed [happy, with life-joy and comfort in God’s salvation regardless of your circumstances], because the Spirit of glory and of God is resting on you [and indwelling you].

We really can rejoice in suffering if we are in love with Jesus. He is forming us to be more like Him and causing His fragrance to be produced in us. From all that time spent in the secret place, reading His word, seeking Him in prayer… All that He has poured into these lives will start to flow out. HIS GLORY will be revealed in US!!
May we always be rejoicing in our beloved. No matter our circumstance, no matter the storm. May we seek to be as ravished with His love as He is with us! May we be joyful for opportunities to demonstrate and manifest His love in us to the world around us! May we have hearts that seek for the winds to come in order that His fragrance may flow out of our lives!

Is It Me?

John 6
64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
…
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

Matthew 26
21 And as they were eating, He said, Solemnly I say to you, one of you will betray Me!
22 They were exceedingly pained and distressed and deeply hurt and sorrowful and began to say to Him one after another, Surely it cannot be I, Lord, can it?

What a truly precious response the disciples had to this claim from Jesus. Their immediate and first concern was to question their own failing flesh and consider their own lack of faithfulness. Each one understood that it could be them! They were not quick to accuse or question others. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?!
⁠Jesus love is so wondrous and perfect that no one but Him knew that Judas was the traitor!! The disciples make no mention of Judas name, they do not doubt him or accuse him at all.
Knowing Judas’s heart all along, Jesus withheld nothing from him. Judas had the same access to fellowship and communion with the other believers; he was graciously blessed, taught and loved alongside his fellows; he served The Lord and his feet were also washed. Jesus did not exclude him in order to “protect” the fellowship of other eleven. Judas was in every meeting, taking part and treated equally with the other disciples!! Jesus knew!!… but harboured no fear, bitterness or disdain. Jesus was utterly yielded to the will and love of His Father.
Jesus withheld nothing from Judas and loved him no less! Jesus, who did not come to condemn (John 3:17-21), didn’t seek to intervene or protect Himself but left Judas to give account of His own life to The Father. (Matthew 12:36/Romans 14:12)
This love of Jesus Christ deserves much consideration. Is it this same love of Jesus that flows through us? Are we as utterly yielded to Our Father’s will? May we yield more and more to Our Father’s love and allow it to flow through us to those who would betray and reject us, for those who hurt us and set themselves against us. May HIS love be shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5) and may we consider our own failing flesh before someone else’s (Luke 7:47).

1 John 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God.