What Will We Do?

I often like to sit and watch my children, to listen to the way they interact and talk with one another and the way they interact and talk with their friends. For the most part, when I watch and listen to them, they are laughing, playing, or learning together. However, there are certain times when I like to watch and listen to them in the midst of conflict and disagreements. It is in these moments that I observe the way they react and behave when things are not going their way and when they are facing opposition.

This morning I was reading in Psalm 139 -  a familiar passage that brought a new thought to my mind. Psalm 139 begins;

O Lord, You have searched me and You know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O Lord.

This reminded me that God enjoys watching His children - that He enjoys watching me. Not only is God watching me in moments of joy, triumph, and success. He is also watching me in moments of sorrow, heartache, and temptation. Not only that, He is watching to see the way I will react when things are not going my way and when I am facing opposition.

My children will often look for their mom or I - or they will call out for help - when they are not sure what to do and when conditions are beyond their control. Sometimes, knowing that the situation is getting away from them, I will sit and wait for their call for help. I believe that God also waits for us to call out to Him. Will we recognize that we are unable to handle life alone? Will we recognize that their is a God that created us, loves us, and wants the best for us that is waiting to come to our rescue?

Psalm 139 concludes;

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

A Response To Fear

This Sunday's sermon covers the letter to the church in Smyrna from Revelation 2:8-11. As I read and studied today I was struck by the word fear. Not because it appears in the letter bit because it is something that predicates our culture today.

In the letter to the church in Smyrna, God basically states his knowledge of their suffering and persecution and offers them encouragement during this period of persecution.

But as I considered this letter, I kept coming back to "fear". Specifically, I was reminded of Matthew 10:28; "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell".

We fear a lot these days, but most of the things we fear are not to be feared at all. But, i drew comfort in knowing that although we fear a lot in our culture today, we are not alone and we are not the first. Reading in Genesis and Exodus this afternoon I was reminded of some of our fearful ancestors.

With all that happened to Joseph by the hands of his brothers and by the will of God. After all that Joseph did to bless and provide for his father and his brothers. Genesis 50:15 tells of the fear his brothers had following their father's death; "When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”

And in Exodus 1 we read of the fear of Egypt; "A new king, who had not known Joseph, came to power in Egypt. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. Let us deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and if war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.”

Fear forces the fearful to respond. Joseph's brothers bowed and pleaded for their lives, Egypt's Pharaoh oppressed and murdered the Israelites. Yet both fears were unwarranted.

The first question for us must be, what do we fear. Next we should ask if it is a warranted fear. And finally we need to decide what our response to our fear is going to be.