You came near when I called on You; You said, ‘Do not fear!’ (Lamentations 3:57 ESV)
People seem to like over-arching statements. “The best tv show of all time is Gilligan’s Island.” “The best breakfast food is grits.” “The message of the Star Trek universe is: Yay, humans!”
I find such statements are rarely true. But there is something satisfying in absolutes.
Poor Jeremiah. He was a prophet without an audience. If you read the book named after him in the Bible, you will find that whatever words Jeremiah uttered, the people of Jerusalem did the opposite. The leaders were particularly adversarial.
Jeremiah was preaching bad news. He was informing them that even though they were God’s chosen people, Judah and Jerusalem were about to be utterly defeated. A fierce and cruel nation was on the move, as God’s disciplining hand. But no one wanted to hear Jeremiah.
So Jeremiah was the only person afraid in Jerusalem. He was afraid of the Babylonian army. He was afraid of the result of God’s wrath. He was afraid of the leaders’ deafness, AND the leaders’ retaliation for Jeremiah’s words.
Just before Jerusalem fell to the very real Babylonian army, Jeremiah was thrown into an empty cistern, and left to die. And in Jeremiah’s fear, God said, “Fear not.”
While I toyed with fear last night, with word of protests only a few miles up the road… while my heart sped up reading of the violent threat made on social media to the two small towns that surround my home… while I start to worry about the polarization forming all around me… while the purposeful rejection of God and the rebellion against His Word (EVEN in the church!) brings to mind the exact situation that Jeremiah and Jerusalem faced…
My reasons to fear are minimal compared to Jeremiah’s.
And God spoke to Jeremiah in that cistern. God told Jeremiah to stop being afraid.
Sometimes I want to make an over-arching statement about the Message of the Bible. God is always saying, “Don’t be afraid.”
- GOD made everything, so even though creation is an intimidating thing… don’t be afraid.
- Sin ruined everything, but even though we see sin’s devastating effect all around us, there is a Savior… don’t be afraid.
- The story of Abram and his transformation into Abraham shows us the extremes to which God will go to create and protect His people… don’t be afraid.
- Every David narrative reminds us that God kills giants, forms governments, forgives grave errors, gives us music, enjoys our dance, and keeps His promises… don’t be afraid.
- And jumping ahead to Jesus’ life and death and LIFE, God SHOUTS, “do not be afraid!”
God has one thing to tell us, down in OUR cisterns… Don’t be afraid. He says it over and over.
Fear not, because God says so.