Dear Friends,

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Today

In recent posts, I’ve discussed various fears that we encounter along life’s journey, and how those fears can help us make better decisions. In what will probably be my last post in this series, I want to revisit the importance and the urgency of properly sorting our fears. God should be #1 on that list…and the longer we take to put Him there, and the more stuff we put ahead of Him, the more unrest we will experience, my friends.

No, you’re not going to lose your home in heaven (He’s not leaving something that important to you!), but there’s no promise that He will clean up all the wreckage, heal all the wounds, and restore all the lost opportunities caused by our refusal to fear God first. I don’t want to be like the children of Israel that got permanently shut out of the Promised Land. I don’t want to be like Samson, who never got his eyes back. Do you?

[Heb 4:1, 7 KJV] 1 Let us therefore FEAR, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. … 7 Again, he LIMITETH a certain day, saying in David, TO DAY, after so long a time; as it is said, TO DAY if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.  

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A bear…or 1,000 Hiroshima bombs?

“Escape to the mountain”, the angels told him. But there was a problem.

“I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:”

So, Lot skipped the mountain and went to Zoar, with the angel’s permission; but then, 1,000 Hiroshima bombs (1) somehow still changed his mind:

[Gen 19:24, 30 KJV] 24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; … 30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and DWELT IN THE MOUNTAIN, and his two daughters with him; for HE FEARED TO DWELL IN ZOAR: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

It seems that Lot upgraded his fear of ending up on an episode of 72 Dangerous Animals…to a fear of the One Who had just wiped Sodom and Gomorrah (buildings, people, and anything that grew there) off the face of the earth and oh by the way created leviathan, behemoth, and all other animals in the first place.

But before Lot upgraded, he and his family had spent so many years in Sodom that his wife found herself unable to ever truly leave, his daughters grew up with some very twisted ideas about sex, and Lot apparently became accustomed to drunkenness.

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The pretend king who would soon be assassinated…or the King of Kings?

Zachariah ruled Israel for only six months before Shallum conspired against him, murdered him in front of everybody and their Mom, and took his throne.

Shallum ruled for one month before Menahem murdered him and…you guessed it…took the throne. Menahem extended his own reign by paying off the dreaded Assyrians.

Menahem’s son ruled for only two years before Pekah…his own captain…conspired against him, murdered him in his own palace, and took his throne. Pekah then teamed up with Rezin, the king of Syria, and attacked Judah. So Ahaz, king of Judah, asked Tiglathpileser king of Assyria for help.

Against that backdrop of murder and conspiracy, we find this profound passage:

[Isa 8:12-14 KJV] 12 SAY YE NOT, A CONFEDERACY, to all [them to] whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and [LET] HIM [BE] YOUR FEAR, and [let] him [be] your dread. 14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

You see, while Ahaz was desperately (his heart was moved “as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind”) trying to ally himself with the evil Assyrians to ward off Pekah the wannabe and his little friend Rezin, he was blowing off a much graver threat…an angry, all-powerful KING OF KINGS, a God who hated, absolutely HATED, child sacrifice.

[2Ki 16:3 KJV] 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

Yes, Pekah and Rezin did in fact slaughter and kidnap a large number of Ahaz’s subjects, but was it because Pekah and Rezin were the dynamic duo? Yes, the Edomites and the Philistines invaded and captured their own share of Ahaz’s subjects, but was it because they had bigger spears or more chariots?

[2Ch 28:19, 22 KJV] 19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD. … 22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this [is that] king Ahaz.

No…it was because in the middle of his accusations of royal conspiracies and other intrigue, and/or attempts to form his own conspiracies or confederacies, he kinda ignored the fact that he was antagonizing the blessed and only Potentate. Oops.

Sadly, Ahaz did not follow Isaiah 8:12-14, and he suffered…along with his people…the terrible consequences.

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P.S.: As promised…Pekah was murdered by Hoshea

The Cloud… or its Rider?

[Mar 4:37 KJV] 37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

Tell the truth…does that sound frightening to you? It does to me.

But, instead of something like “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:”, the disciples dealt with their fear by asking Jesus if He cared about them dying.

Remember, this is the Jesus that is going to suffer indescribable torture and humiliation, and murder, in order to save them from the lake of fire. This is the Jesus that had earlier healed Peter’s mother, in chapter 1. This is the Jesus that cared about His followers so much that He wouldn’t even let His own mother interrupt His ministry to them (Mark 3:31). So, perhaps we could imagine a little bit of His frustration (after issuing a cease-and-desist order to the storm) in this situation:

[Mar 4:40 KJV] 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?   

Yes, they were very afraid of the storm. But then, they upgraded…

[Mar 4:41 KJV] 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

…and later wrote much of the New Testament, and finally sealed their faith with their own blood, creating perhaps the strongest evidence for the truth of the Gospels.

We should be more afraid of the One Who rides the cloud…

[Isa 19:1 KJV] 1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD RIDETH UPON A SWIFT CLOUD, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

…than we should be of the cloud, my friends!

[Psa 103:13 KJV] 13 Like as a father pitieth [his] children, [so] the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

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God bless you, my friend.

Links:

(1) Archaeology of Tall el-Hammam on Newsweek