The Christian's Fearful Courage and Strength

 

“Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” -Psalm 2:11

Be strong and courageous. This was the command of God to Joshua at the death of Moses. A great leader the people of God had followed and known for forty years is gone, and Joshua had to take the lead. Where was such strength and courage for Joshua’s leadership to be found?

 “The Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

The rich promises of God’s presence with him always are found in God’s Word which says, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” How are we as followers of Christ to serve Him with fear, and rejoice with trembling? The Lord tells Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Jesus told His disciples at the very end of Matthew, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Christian, in your fear of the Lord, the Lord dismisses all other fears. When the fearful Lord is on your side, who can be against you? With His faithful promises yours in Christ Jesus, be strong and courageous. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, thus a wise strength and courage in which to obey the commands of the Lord in a world which assaults the worship of God.

Honesty and faithfulness at work, home, as servants in the Lord’s church, as citizens of heaven in our citizenship on earth will take the Lord’s strength and courage in you. To have tongues of truth proclaiming God’s Word to the world will be met with the fleshly temptation for cowardly safety, and at the end of our comforts in our following of Christ and His Word we will need His strength and courage.

Do not ask the world if they think it is right. Do not ask the world for safety. Truth and safety are not in the world. Our only safety and truth are in the Lord who says, “be careful to do according to all that is written in (the Law of God).” Truth is in God’s Word and our fear of the Lord sends us to Christ for safety.

Heavenly Father, You are holy and awesome in power. In fear do we approach you with trembling to rejoice in hearing You say, “do not be afraid.” Dismiss our fears and grant to us Your mercies of strength and courage by Your Holy Spirit to obey Your commands. Forgive us, deliver us from temptation, give us all the needed mercies to be faithful. In Jesus’ name we ask it, amen.

The Sweet, Truthful Speech of the Wise-Hearted

 “The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.” – Proverbs 16:21

Do you see what is wrong with the world? With others? Do you want to instruct the world with knowledge which they are in ignorance and blind to? Do you desire to persuade others into right thinking and right living?

In our age of social media platforms, we are flooded with information of the lives of others while given the option to comment. News and information swirl faster and more furious than the town gossip listening into party line phone calls in previous generations. This has arisen a generation which craves information for the sole purpose of commenting on everything.

Does God speak any commands of us as His people whom He set apart for His sovereign purposes in this fallen world? I have observed many in Christ’s name take up truth to mock those in error. I have observed many in Christ’s name compromise truth while communicating with those in public sin. Yet, in all our technological advances, our eternal God speaks the ancient words of the proverb above.

If I am to be of any use in the Lord’s service living in a hostile, sinful culture to persuade those in darkness of the truth, I must be “wise of heart.” Such wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord (9:10). A heart without a healthy fear of God as righteous Master and Judge with terror to melt mountains is an unhealthy, foolish heart bent toward a pride seeing others as beneath them in intelligence, seeing their self-righteousness and self-justification of errors through the lens of spiritual superiority. Such pride will not only fail to persuade those in error, but it will also lead to destruction (16:18). A wise heart is a heart humble before God having been clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience (Colossians 3:12).

A wise-hearted Christian is discerning, as well. Though a gentle, kind, patient, humble soul, the Christian is uncompromising of God’s revealed truth in Scripture. What we know of our God is not simple opinions or theory but spoken to us by God’s eternal truth to we who are like fading grass (Isaiah 40:6-8). Our confidence in truth speaking is not simply formed based on our ways of thinking which we think are pure because it just seems right to us, but because God has spoken (Proverbs 3:5, 16:2). Our wise understanding has not come by way of our own thoughts or the thoughts of others, but the instruction of God (16:16).

Yet even here, this proverb does not simply jump into speaking truth. The wise-hearted and discerning Christian devoted to biblical truth has a sweetness of speech. In our modern culture, every call for sweetness of speech is quickly and arrogantly dismissed by calling people “tone police.” Yet, our God is our tone police. In a hostile, arrogant world rich with the mockery of sharp tongues, the tamed tongue of a Christian speaks truth from God sweetly to fall upon worldly ears accustomed to mockery and arrogance. This means the command of God upon your tongue and typing is in a studied way of expressing biblical truth using graceful, uncompromising language with a concern that hearers enjoy the great value of increasing in the biblical knowledge you are communicating. The sweet words of wise counsel in a foolish world are compared to the sweet smell of perfume in a smelly world (Proverbs 27:9).

The wise-hearted, discerning Christian with sweet biblical truth upon the lips now speaks. And that is the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. We make disciples by teaching them to observe all Jesus commanded us (Matthew 28:20). We are not permitted to be silent or to conveniently skip over biblical truth. Yet, our goal is the instruction of others, the increased knowledge of biblical truth by wise instruction with sweet words. For the world truly is foolish. If we desire to persuade others to increased biblical knowledge to change toward right thinking and right living, let us be uncompromising in biblical truth, wise in our affections, graceful in our words, bold in our proclamation.

Heavenly Father, forgive us of any foolishness in our affections and give us hearts wise in Your Scriptures. Forgive us of any lack of understanding Your commands of us and grant to us discernment. Forgive us of any harshness or mockery of our sharp tongues and give us lips to speak sweet words. Forgive us of any silence and give us confidence to proclaim Your truth to a foolish world and baffle them. In Jesus’ name Amen.

The Sweet, Precious Words of Jesus

“More to be desired are [the words of the Lord] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” -Psalm 19:10

Some handle the Bible as simply a book of facts. The stories are real and there are moral nuggets to extrapolate, but the Bible’s worth ends there. Others handle the Bible as only a book of life application. Its only value being found in how I am to live…or want to live. Both of these blurry lenses to view God’s Word are removed in this one verse in the Psalms.

For the worshiper of God, the Word of God is desirable. The law, testimony, precepts, commandments, fear of the Lord, and rules found in the Bible as described in the previous verses are more precious and valuable than pure gold, sweeter than fresh drippings of honey from a honeycomb. This Psalm isn’t sung by someone simply wanting cold, hard facts from God or simply wanting a life application and motivational speech from God. This is sung by someone who read the Bible as God revealing Himself to be utterly glorious as well as a God to be delighted in.

Sin and affliction do not make my heart glad. No matter how much I invest in myself from either of these two human experiences, no matter how much I praise or justify sinfulness, my heart is not glad. Gladness of heart comes from the reality of this Psalm. To deeply desire God’s voice, the voice of our Good Shepherd upon the narrow road, the lamp unto our feet. To find God’s Word as sweet and enjoyable. 

This is enjoyed by a sinner forgiven, yes. Deeper still, this is enjoyed by a prodigal son welcomed home by the father and into a celebration (Luke 15:11-32). This is enjoyed by the principled self-righteous persecutor Saul of Tarsus when the resurrected Jesus knocked him down (Acts 9). In this I enjoy God’s Word, as a prideful, ugly sinner who once thought I could out-think Christianity and exceed in truth and morality greater than the teachings of Christ and His followers.

How did Jesus’ words become so sweet and so precious to me? Jesus Himself became sweet and precious to me. The Bible didn’t simply show me facts or how to live. The Bible shows me Christ.

How sweet and precious Jesus is to me. Even when following the voice of my Good Shepherd leads to pain, my heart confesses Peter’s response, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Sweet, precious words of eternal life. In my foolishness, I am prone to wander. His Word restores my life (Psalm 119:107). In my sadness and terrors of the night, His Word leads me to the Rock of my salvation (Psalm 62:1-2). In my fears, His Word reminds me He is beside me and I may sleep and wake again (Psalm 3:5-6).

His Word no longer condemns me as a criminal of His law, for I, even a sinner as I, belong to Christ (Romans 8:1). The pure law of God with its perfect precepts and rules I have broken was faithfully and perfectly obeyed by Christ (Philippians 2:8). My precious, sweet Savior is my righteousness before God. My blind eyes are opened, my deaf ears can hear, but my Lord who speaks the words of eternal life.

I plead with you to hear the precious, sweet words of the Lord Jesus Christ, these words of eternal life, and follow the Good Shepherd. You are not too great a sinner, too disheartened, or too self-righteous and intelligent for the only wise King Jesus to rescue from the wrath of God. Hear His precious, sweet words of eternal life and follow Him.

Heavenly Father, my prayer to You is for the readers to know You, to hear Your perfect law and discover the preciousness and sweetness of the words of our Lord! Open their ears to hear Christ’s words of eternal life and follow. You are altogether lovely and glorious, a God of great works worthy of eternal praise. Hallelujah to our great God and Savior! In Jesus’ name. Amen.