Drizzle and Storms

Most of us live in a Seattle like world of fear. Fear surrounds us like a light rain, drizzling away, keeping a steady moisture of presence on our skin, until we are so used to it we don’t even notice it.

Once in a while that drizzle may be interrupted by a more serious thunderstorm, rocking our world with moments of sheer panic. Our worlds turn upside down, our confusion peaks, our hearts even race a little bit faster, until that storm of a crisis passes over us and we’re back to a steady stream of light fear, glistening our skins, overcasting the skies of our lives.

I don’t know about you, but it’s time for me to move out of Seattle!

I’m ready for some San Diego sunshine, and a life free of worries and anxieties.

I’ve got to share these verses from Isaiah 8:12-13 with you. Here they are:

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

The problem we face is not that we fear, but what we fear.

Most of us spend our days in a haze of fear over the wrong things. How will I pay my bills? What if I get sick? Who will take care of me when I am old? What if my kids don’t get a job? What if they can’t pay their bills? What if they get sick? What if I get in a car accident and become handicapped? What if I don’t ever get a job again?

All real worries. All real fears. But every single one under the control of the heavenly Father. Do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. The very hairs of your head are numbered. Every breath you take accounted for, every step you take ordained by God the Father.

But there is one to be feared. The Lord of Hosts, let him be your fear.

What does that mean? Think about it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear Him. What does it mean to fear God?

I’m reminded of Jill in the silver chair (C.S Lewis) standing before the Lion facing the stream of water, dying of thirst. She’s torn between a deep deep desire to satisfy her thirst at the stream of water, but knowing that she must go nearer to the Lion – the very scary Lion – to reach the stream. Hovering in her indecision, she almost gives up and leaves, wanting to find perhaps another safer stream, when the Lion gently reminds her – there is no other stream.

Here’s how David Crowder describes God’s love, a love that demands our response.

“He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realize just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,

Oh how He loves us,

How He loves us all”

Will you spend the rest of your days living in a drizzle of unsubstantiated fears and incongruent worries? Or will you finally give in to the greatest Love man can ever know, a love that demands your fear, a love that will ravage your life in such a devastatingly all encompassing way and will leave you begging for more.

So much more.

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