In the last devotional, we were looking at season four on danger and public distraction. We saw how fearing the Lord is also how we love God and keep our hearts. We also saw how fearing evil (rather than hating it) is disloyalty to God, showing that we serve another master. Yet, God is greater and nothing else can compare with Him. And it is this God who is also our tender and loving Father! So, when we fear Him above all others, not only does our fear and disloyalty dissolve, but He becomes our confidence even in the hardest times of persecution and divine judgement upon evil. Here are four more reasons to fear God and not evil or His judgement of evil in the world:
3.) Urge upon your heart the express prohibitions of Christ in this case, and let your heart stand in awe of the violation of them. He hath charged you not to fear; “When we shall hear of wars and commotions, see that ye be not terrified.” “In nothing be terrified by your adversaries.” In Matthew, 10th, and within the compass of six verses, our Savior commands us thrice, “not to fear man.” Does the voice of a man make thee to tremble, and shall not the voice of God? If thou art of such a timorous spirit, how is it that thou fearest not to disobey the commands of Jesus Christ? Methinks the command of Christ should have as much power to calm, as the voice of a poor worm to terrify thy heart, “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as the grass, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker?” We cannot fear creatures sinfully till we have forgotten God: if we remember what he is, and what he has said, we should not be of such feeble spirits. Bring thyself then to this reflection in times of danger: ‘If I let into my heart the slavish fear of man, I must let out the reverential awe and fear of God; and dare I cast off the fear of the Almighty for the frowns of a man? shall I lift up proud dust above the great God? shall I run upon a certain sin, to shun a probable danger?’—O keep thy heart by this consideration!
The fear of evil is the road to foolishness and further evil. There is a big difference between fearing the judgement of God upon evil when you are serving Him and fearing that same judgement when you continue habitually in doing evil. The Christian will surely face the strictest discipline of God if they rebel! But even this is of a different kind than the judgement that God brings upon a world lacking repentance. Be sure, then, that you do not continue in habitual sin, for that may just reveal, if there is no growing heart to God in you, that you are not His own. The fear in doing evil is thus now two kinds: for Christians in habitual sin is stricter and stricter discipline from their loving Father, and for the unbeliever this means God’s judgement and ultimately eternal punishment. Do you think that the Father’s discipline of His children cannot be severe? It will help to remember the many judgement that Yahveh brought upon the Israelites during the times of Moses, the judges, and the kings. Even for kings who loved God, the consequences for their sin were often severe: Moses could not enter the Promised Land, plagues began because of sexual sin and idolatry, David lost his first son from Bathsheba, Saul lost the kingship, Israel was defeated many times in battle, and many other such consequences. Remember that, even for Job, God was willing to take away his family, possessions, and even his health (and this was in ideal circumstances). God also commanded the death of children who persisted in rebellion to their parents in Deuteronomy (that was for the benefit of others, to instill godly fear in them). His discipline is no slap on the wrist, but what will lead you to repent. And the more stubborn you are in your sin, the more severe His loving discipline is to be! For He knows how to turn even the most stubborn of hearts. Our Father knows all our thoughts: our whole heart. We cannot hide anything from Him. And He loves us so much that He cannot tolerate rebellion. Fear the Lord and repent from evil, then you will be kept from much trouble! It is much better to repent and turn to Him than to stand against Him in rebellion. This will also guard you in the hardest of times. Fear the Lord and not men, who are to God as mere worms.
4.) Remember how much needless trouble your vain fears have brought upon you formerly: “And hast feared continually because of the oppressor, as if he were ready to devour; and where is the fury of the oppressor?” He seemed ready to devour, yet you are not devoured. I have not brought upon you the thing that you feared; you have wasted your spirit, disordered your soul, and weakened your hands to no purpose: you might have all this while enjoyed your peace, and possessed your soul in patience. And here I cannot but observe a very deep policy of Satan in managing a design against the soul by these vain fears. I call them vain, with reference to the frustration of them by Providence; but certainly they are not in vain as the end at which Satan aims in raising them; for herein he acts as soldiers do in the siege of a garrison, who to wear out the besieged by constant watchings, and thereby unfit them to make resistance when they storm it in earnest, every night rouse them with false alarms, which though they come to nothing, yet remarkably answer the ultimate design of the enemy.—O when will you beware of Satan’s devices?
There is hardly a better way for the Christian to destroy his effectiveness than to be living in fear of wicked men and wicked devices. And not only is his effectiveness destroyed, but he becomes disheartened and frozen in fear: practically useless in the kingdom of God for as long as he is a slave to his earthly fears. Such a one has forgotten who God is, acting as though his foes are mightier than He. Yet, his foes cannot even lift up a finger without the permission of God! So we destroy ourselves and allow evil to dominate us. Does this sound like a soldier of the Lord? Remember, then, that fearing evil is meaningless. There is no point or reason for us to fear evil. Doing so can only bring you more and more trouble. You might as well be terrified of a mere fly for how much harm evil ones can do to you apart from the express will of the Mighty God. Would you lock yourself in a closet if only to hide from a fly? And yet, the evil you fear poses less a threat to you than that fly even could. That is the terror that so befalls those sons and daughters of God captivated by the fear of evil. Meaningless and vain terror that is self-inflicting and self-destructive. And we can see why fearing evil is paying heed to it and not to God.
5.) Consider solemnly, that though the things you fear should really happen, yet there is more evil in your own fear than in the things feared: and that, not only as the least evil of sin is worse than the greatest evil of suffering; but as this sinful fear has really more trouble in it than there is in that condition of which you are so much afraid. Fear is both a multiplying and a tormenting passion; it represents troubles as much greater than they are, and so tortures the soul much more than the suffering itself. So it was with Israel at the Red Sea; they cried out and were afraid, till they stepped into the water, and then a passage was opened through those waters which they thought would have drowned them. Thus it is with us; we, looking through the glass of carnal fear upon the waters of trouble, the swellings of Jordan, cry out, ‘O they are unfordable; we must perish in them!’ But when we come into the midst of those floods indeed, we find the promise made good: “God will make a way to escape.” Thus it was with a blessed martyr; when he would make a trial by putting his finger to the candle, and found himself not able to endure that, he cried out, “What! cannot I bear the burning of a finger? How then shall I be able to bear the burning of my whole body to-morrow?” Yet when that morrow came he could go cheerfully into the flames with this scripture in his mouth: “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine; when thou passest through the waters I will be with you; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt.”
“The least evil of sin is worse than the greatest evil of suffering.” In other words, any sin that we can commit in suffering is far worse than the actual suffering we endure. Suffering of itself is not evil. What is evil, Christian, is when we sin in the midst of that suffering. Thus it is that fearing potential suffering (also called “anxiety”), when it stops us from serving God, is far worse in the eyes of God than even if the potential suffering were actual and of the worst kind. We do evil when we fear evil and suffering, but we please God when we obey Him and stand for Him under it. It is the case that those fearing evil bring far more suffering upon themselves than the realization of those fears ever could. Rather, when you are to suffer, make sure that you are suffering for Christ and not for the idolatrous fear of evil. Suffering for Christ brings honour and peace, but suffering in slavish fear to evil only multiplies suffering.
6.) Consult the many precious promises which are written for your support and comfort in all dangers. These are your refuges to which you may fly and be safe when the arrows of danger fly by night, and destruction wasteth at noon-day. There are particular promises suited to particular cases and exigencies; there are also general promises reaching all cases and conditions. Such as these: “All things shall work together for good,” &c. “Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged, yet it shall be well with them that fear the Lord,” &c. Could you but believe the promises your heart should be established. Could you but plead them with God as Jacob did, (“Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good,” &c.) they would relieve you in every distress.
God has left us with many promises. Flavel mentioned one of the most comforting of promises: “All things shall work together for good.” This comes from Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Who are those who “love God”? They are those who are growing in keeping their hearts fixed upon God. Who are those “called according to his purpose”? Only those saved through Christ’s blood. Keeping the heart increasingly as you grow in faith is the mark of the saved, and it shows you to be a bearer of that promise: that, regardless of circumstances, God is working all things out for good. Paul also says something similar in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” The key here is that obedience is done from the heart (not the giving of wealth). A man’s cheerfulness results from his heart being in the right place (“cheerfulness” refers to “willing” in the Greek, which is the realm of the heart), not being attached or feeling the loss of the gift (which would be idolatry). The word for “able” does not refer to “possible,” as if He only has the ability to do so, but literally refers to God’s “power.” The verb is also in the “continuous,” meaning that it is an ongoing action. Thus, “God is continually powerful to make all grace abound to you.” So, that passage reads more like a promise that God will continue blessing you with all that you need in Christ to continue on serving Him. Thus, not only does God make all things work together for the good of the saved, but He also equips all of them to continue in godly service. Common to both is loving God, which is exactly the focus and purpose of keeping the heart. So, study the promises, and you will see that God amply supplies our true needs in Him.
Next time we will be looking at four more helps in the season of danger and public distraction.