“Fear All Around!” – FBC Morning Light (8/31/2023)

Fear in an Increasingly Fearful World

Well a good Thursday morning to you. So today in our Bible reading we're in Isaiah chapters 7 and 8, Ephesians 6, so we're wrapping up the letter to the Ephesians today, and then Proverbs chapter 3. I'm going to focus on a few verses in Isaiah chapter 8 today.

I don't know if you've noticed it, maybe it's just me, but it seems that we live in an increasingly fearful world, don't we? Well at least we're made to feel fearful in this world by all that we hear in the news media and so forth.

It was just last week that this hurricane hit the southwest and caused all kinds of flooding and damage and so forth in California. The week before that there was that horrible, horrible fire in Hawaii that killed who knows how many people.

As of this recording there's been identified a hundred, there have been recovered about a hundred and twenty bodies, and they're talking about a thousand people still missing as of this as of today that I'm recording this, and just millions and millions of dollars in damage.

So you can think about those kinds of things, and we are made to feel like, we're made to fear that the climate is changing dramatically and we're ushering in some kind of global catastrophes. That's how we're made to...some want us to feel that way, so that they can further their particular agenda.

But then there's also fear that we could feel on an economic level. There's, you know, prices are going up, and interest rates are going up, and the economy is shrinking, and so on and so forth, and we're wondering, you know, where is this all going to lead?

You know, are we going to be able to pay our mortgage next year? You know, and that kind of thing. What's going to happen with inflation and etc.? So we're made to feel fearful regarding the economy, and of course there's plenty to be afraid of regarding military enemies of the United States and other parts of the world.

They've got this constant threat being talked about from China and Russia, what's happening with the Russia-Ukraine war, what's really going on there? We don't really seem to know, and so what is all this going to mean for the United States?

We're hearing about how China is buying up all kinds of farmland in the United States, they've got plants in different...people planted in different venues in the United States, spying and so forth, and you know, we're going to be taken over by the Chinese is the fear, and I'm not suggesting that anything, any of these things are unreal.

And then add to that is just the fear of the political picture in our country. What in the world is going on, when you think about the two foremost options running for president next year? And you think about what, you know, the Department of Justice is doing in targeting, you know, the Republican candidate, but they're not doing anything about the crime, and you know, you get to go back and forth with all of that kind of stuff, and you're asking yourself, you're scratching your head, you're wondering, what kind of leadership is this?

Where where it could all this take our country? And you can respond with a great deal of fear. Well, I want to point us out, point us to, a couple of verses in Isaiah chapter 8, where the Lord comes to Isaiah, his prophet, and he says, the Lord spoke to me, in verse 11, with a strong hand, and he instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people.

Okay, let's take that for ourselves, okay? Don't walk in the way of this people. And the Lord goes on to say, do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

So the Lord is telling us, he was telling Isaiah, and I think we can legitimately apply because of what's coming next, to ourselves. Don't be so filled with anxiety and the wringing of your hands over the uncertainty of what's coming related to the climate, and other nations that are enemies, and the economy, and the elections, and all that kind of stuff.

Don't be wringing your hands over that stuff, the Lord says. Why? Because, verse 13, the Lord of hosts, him shall you hallow. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread, and he will be as a sanctuary.

So instead of wringing your hands over the climate, the economy, the culture, the politics, instead of wringing your hands over all that, let's fear the Lord. Let's live in dread of displeasing our Lord, and let's look at him, let's look to him as the sanctuary that he is.

Not fear in this life, but in Jesus put it this way too, didn't he? Fear not him who's able to destroy the body, but cannot destroy the soul. But rather, fear him who's able to destroy both body and soul in hell.

Him shall you fear. Let's fear our God with that healthy respect as a child would have for his loving Father. And so our Father, we come to you today thankful that you are a sanctuary to your people, and I pray that it would be you that we fear, and it would be the displeasing of you that we would dread, and deliver us, O Lord, from the fears that are so common in this world.

And this we pray in Jesus' name. All right, well listen, have a great Thursday, the rest of your day, and may the Lord bless you in it. Good day.