What is Fear?

What is fear in light of who God is? What is fear in light of being with God?

¹² Who has measured the waters^[a] in the hollow of His hand,
      Measured heaven with a span
      And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
      Weighed the mountains in scales
      And the hills in a balance?
       ¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
      Or as His counselor has taught Him?
       ¹⁴ With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
      And taught Him in the path of justice?
      Who taught Him knowledge,
      And showed Him the way of understanding?
       ¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
      And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
      Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
       ¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
      Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
       ¹⁷ All nations before Him are as nothing,
      And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
       ¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God?
      Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
       ¹⁹ The workman molds an image,
      The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
      And the silversmith casts silver chains.
       ²⁰ Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
      Chooses a tree that will not rot;
      He seeks for himself a skillful workman
      To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
       ²¹ Have you not known?
      Have you not heard?
      Has it not been told you from the beginning?
      Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
       ²² It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
      And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
      Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
      And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
       ²³ He brings the princes to nothing;
      He makes the judges of the earth useless.
       ²⁴ Scarcely shall they be planted,
      Scarcely shall they be sown,
      Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
      When He will also blow on them,
      And they will wither,
      And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
       ²⁵ “ To whom then will you liken Me,
      Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
       ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high,
      And see who has created these things,
      Who brings out their host by number;
      He calls them all by name,
      By the greatness of His might
      And the strength of His power;
      Not one is missing. 
-Isaiah 40:12-26


How could I ever be afraid when I serve a God of the impossible? A God whose greatness no one can fathom.

If God is my everything, that includes my fear. If He is my fear, then I cannot have a fear of man. 

Isaiah 8:12-13 says "Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.
       ¹³ The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
      Let Him be your fear,
      And let Him be your dread. "

There is no fear when you see the face of God.

What is fear of pain? Fear of death? It is nothing. I laugh at pain. I laugh at death. It's victory when it's for Christ.

"I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open." 

"When the call of God comes to you, keep going and never stop." -Oswald Chambers

No fear but God.

"Fear not those than can kill the body but cannot kill the soul."

So here I am, Lord. A bondservant to Christ. Weak and utterly inadequate in my own strength and skills, yet moving in the power and authority You've given Christ, Himself.

Dying to myself internally so that others may live. Preparing to die even in body so that others may know You. This is my devotion. My eyes are fixed on You. There is no one else for me but You, God.

And no one can stop the will of God. Turning my eyes away from this world, I'm staring into Your beautiful eyes. I will never look away.

I will go to the darkest, most dangerous place on earth so Your name will be known in every nation, tribe, tongue.

My life is not my own.

Faithful

I was on my Facebook earlier today and I found an application on the site that really caught my eye: Facebook can make a collage of all your statuses from 2010. At first, I admit I thought it was a little stupid, but then I became curious to see everything I had written in an entire year. Where had I been a year ago in my walk with God? What did He bring me through? Where I am at now and how am I different? So with the click of a button, every status I had written in a year appeared before my eyes. I started reading and began recalling the situations in my life which I had referenced in these statuses. Some of these situations were joyful and others were some of the most painful times of my life- and there they were- all right before my eyes like a video, playing in my mind. But more than that, I saw how God had been incredibly faithful in every circumstance. Let me clarify:

1. God healed me from depression (after my best friend died of cancer and my grandpa died two weeks apart two years ago).

2. God took me out of a disastrous setting at home

3. God led me to live with my dad and his girlfriend, strengthening those relationships which I did not really have before

4. God led me to break up with a man who is not the one for me- however heartbreaking, I have now never been so joyous in the Lord in my life

5. God has called me to be a missionary (most likely in Latin America)

6. God brought me to Olivet Nazarene University

He has been SO faithful. And in October through now, God has been repeating a promise to me about my future. He has confirmed it in many ways- through prophecy, the Word, and His gentle whisper in my heart. My mind trusts the Lord, but my heart is not confident. I look back at my life and remember what it was like in these situations... like depression for example. Going through chronic depression- I was miserable. I was on anti-depressants for a year and a half. But God healed me. He was faithful. In looking at these situations, I find one common theme: nothing happened instantaneously. That does not mean that the Lord did not come through- that He was not faithful. No! Just as His Word says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness" (2 Peter 3:9). And in reading about those in the Bible whom God made promises to- the promise was not fulfilled right away... but  it was fulfilled.

It has been amazing to be able to look back and see how far God has taken me and how incredibly FAITHFUL He has been in my life (even through something as silly as Facebook statuses). 

I can trust Him with my future.