Fearless

I shall not be afraid

Psalm 36.4

I came across a great chiasm today. A chiasm is a form of Hebrew structure, in which the verses are paired up from the middle outwards. So the first line is connected to the last, the second to the penultimate, the third to the antepenultimate (I just wanted to include that word!). It ends up looking a bit like a rocket on it's side.

So look at this:

A  "When I am afraid,

          B  I put my trust in you,

                    C  In God whose word I praise

          B' In God I trust

A' I shall not be afraid"

So the singer talks about moving from being afraid to no longer being afraid. But chiasm does more than this. As you move from the outside in, you move towards the main point the writer wants to get across (Hebrew writing often puts the main point in the middle and not the end). 

So moving to the middle, we see that the singer stops being afraid because he trusts in God. Unsurprising. But what does trusting God look like? You then move to the very heart of the phrase and you find the punchline - he is trusting in God whose word he praises. In other words, the psalmist finds freedom from fear by praising God's word. This must include trusting God's word, but moves beyond that to praising it, rejoicing in it, delighting in it (Psalm 119). 

Sometimes we will be tempted to erode the evangelical confidence in God's word - we might hope that it makes mission easier, or opposition less likely. But to do so has awful personal consequences. Undermining the centre of this chiasm is like pulling on a loose thread of wool - pretty soon the whole jumper has unravelled. 

Once I stop praising God's word as true and trustworthy, I might want to trust God, but I no longer know with confidence what he has promised. I might then either fall into despair immediately, or start thinking that God has promised things he hasn't and so fall into disillusionment. Either way I am left with my fears.

Every time we hold on to a difficult passage of scripture and don't stop at reluctantly (but with some embarrassment) hold to it, but praise God for it, Romans 8.28 and all the other wonderful promises in God's priceless word shine more brightly - dispelling the fears that crowd in as we are reminded - with God for me, "what can flesh do to me?"

Trying to hear God

"these men have set up idols in their hearts and
put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces"

Ezekiel 14.3

I was really struck today by that idea of setting up a stumbling block for myself. It is true that I have been known to find myself tripping over the shoes I carelessly left in the middle of the room. That is a stupid thing to do - but I haven't yet got round to purposefully trying to place trip hazards so that I will trip up - I'm not that stupid.

And yet, that is what the Lord is saying to us through Ezekiel - we are in the habit of doing just that. So what is the stumbling block and in what way does it trip us up - what were we on the way to do, that this stumbling block prevented?

The thing the people of God were being prevented from doing was hearing from God. They had his words - Ezekiel was amongst them after all. What they were prevented from doing was hearing them as the Lord's words. This is striking. They seem to have recognised that Ezekiel was a prophet - they have even come to him for his advice. This suggests that they know that his words are God's word, but what they don't seem to do - is act on it - live their lives as if the Creator covenant Lord has spoken to them.

So what got in the way - what is the stumbling block - why does God appear distant to his people here? It is their idols. They want to hear from the Creator but worship his creation. 

So how can I know what my idols are? Quite simply they are the things which stop me taking God's word as his word. This could take the form of liberalism, in which someone denies that it is God's word, or skin deep evangelicalism - we have God's word, but we put off acting on it. We are like the mirror gazing fool of James 1. And the person who exemplifies this in Scripture is the Rich young man.

He knows that Jesus speaks God's word - he hears that word - but his idols (money, comfort, status, identity, safety) prevent him doing it.

So here is a good test. What do I know that God wants me to do? Once we've answered that question. The next one is this, "What is preventing me doing it?" The answers to that question are our stumbling blocks, our idols.

Seeing the Blessing

"I delight to do your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart"

Psalm 40.8

In the original Karate Kid, the hero Daniel is given a series of tedious and repetitive tasks to do by his teacher Mr Miyagi. The first task seems like a punishment (putting his coat on the peg rather than the floor). Daniel kicks against doing the tasks at first, but eventually knuckles down. However, what was tedious and repetitive did not prove pointless. The tasks Mr Miyagi has set have been subconsciously equipping Daniel's body (and indeed his mind, spirit and emotion) for the fights ahead. It turns out that obeying Mr Miyagi's instructions has worked out for Daniel's blessing.

I thought of this when I came across the verse above. The singer speaks of God's will and law as being delightful. This is an oft neglected theme of scripture (see also psalm 119). It is most strongly expressed by Moses in Deuteronomy 4.7-8, "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?"

Too often we find ourselves apologetic about God's instructions in his word or feel the need to justify them when they sit badly with our culture. In reality though, we can rejoice when God's law runs against our culture, as this is a sign of his closeness to us. If God did not want to be with his people - he would not bother to tell them how to live in holiness, because he only intended hell for them. But since God delights in his people, he shows them how to be holy as he is holy.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to help others see why God's instructions are delightful and good, but that in doing so, we ourselves don't lose confidence and pride that we have his law. At any time our world runs counter to God's truth - at present it revolves around sex, identity, materialism and individualism. When that happens, it is uncomfortable - like cycling into the wind and not with it. Personally it can be hugely costly and initially we might rail against it (as Daniel does in the movie). However that discomfort should not provoke uncertainty or insecurity. Instead we can be encouraged that we are following God's good laws and we have this sign that he is with us.