If You are near to the broken hearted
Then You are here with me
You take my sorrow inside your hands and
You turn it to victory
Tag Archives: Hope
Fear Not
There are huge websites that besides hosting email have everything from news, to stock quotes, to just plain gossip or human interest stories, and these websites seem to steer the public psyche about what they are going to think about that day.
A decade or more ago, these websites seemed to have a lot less advertisements – and also more useful information. I observed the change over a decade the websites have gotten away from stories on personal finance, planning for the future and real news stories like things like the Enron collapse or the Bernie Madoff scandal. They don’t talk about the negative effects of quantitative easing or the fact that you can’t make money in banks anymore with rock bottom interest rates. As far as these websites go, it looks like the American Dream is dead or for an exclusive few who are insiders.
Instead of meritorious success stories or useful information, these websites have changed over time. Our public consciousness focuses around publicity whores who will do anything, or say anything, to stay in the public eye. And instead of focusing on the stories of the bad that happens at the highest levels of society, “the moneyed classes” and all that goes on with those power brokers, the stories focus on the degenerate elements of the middle and lower classes. There are horror stories of grisly murders, awful mothers and fathers, monstrous children, horrible stories of abuse, miscarriages and stillbirths, and just plain depressive stories. And of course there is always a new fear of some disease outbreak – from measles to Ebola to Zika. To satisfy our taste to learn about the rich and famous, we also get the sensational gossip and dark narcissism from our cultural leaders out of Hollywood – where people jump into a new bed before they even sign divorce papers. Everything that is soul-destroying and materialistic – that is what these sites cover.
When we feed our minds these negative images of our society as a whole, there is a subconscious drift to either mirror this behavior, or to react in fear. If you are a woman, you might fear marrying a man because of all the horrible behavior you hear about. Men will dread marriage because they see all of the manipulative behavior of women and all they hear is that men are losers. Colleges have recently driven a message that all sex is rape, so a woman can change her mind after the fact. That is not to condone promiscuity, but a rape charge is also very serious, that is why there is the Biblical commandment to not bear false witness. With all the stories you hear about of children with defects (like the hysteria about Zika virus), people will shrink back from procreating. The public consciousness is telling us that men are horrible, women are horrible, children are horrible, religion is horrible, and relationships are horrible. What are we left with? We are left with materialism, jealousy, hate and fear.
Not good.
I’m not saying that bad things don’t happen. I’m not saying we shouldn’t take precautions or have many reasons to be concerned about any number of things. But we can’t dwell on the bad – or it will take over.
We can’t merely eschew evil, we must fill our minds and lives with good. That is why we have the Bible. That is why God gave us the Sabbath – to meditate upon God, his Word, and his creation.
Let’s have some hope, shall we? And let us put fear behind us and make it our servant, and not our master.
“Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” – Isaiah 41:14
Just a thought – did God call the nation of Israel a worm – because they where moping around in the “dirt” of life?
“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” -Isaiah 43:1
“For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” – Isaiah 41:13
“Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.” -Numbers 14:9
“Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” -Isaiah 35:4
Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. –Zephaniah 3:14-17
There is only One to fear — and that is a healthy fear.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” -Proverbs 1:7
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28
Remember, “hell” is used synonymously with the grave and death. The “gift of God” is eternal life.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” -Ecclesiastes 12:13
What should we be doing, cowering in fear? Or helping develop new disciples for Christ?
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” – Matthew 28:20
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