Tag: afraid

Fear or Faith? (1 Samuel 13:23-14:23)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

The pass at Micmash had meanwhile been secured by a contingent of the Philistine army.

One day Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to where the Philistines have their outpost.” But Jonathan did not tell his father what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Saul and his 600 men were camped on the outskirts of Gibeah, around the pomegranate tree at Migron. Among Saul’s men was Ahijah the priest, who was wearing the ephod, the priestly vest. Ahijah was the son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the Lord who had served at Shiloh.

No one realized that Jonathan had left the Israelite camp. To reach the Philistine outpost, Jonathan had to go down between two rocky cliffs that were called Bozez and Seneh. The cliff on the north was in front of Micmash, and the one on the south was in front of Geba.“Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!”

“Do what you think is best,” the armor bearer replied. “I’m with you completely, whatever you decide.”

“All right, then,” Jonathan told him. “We will cross over and let them see us. If they say to us, ‘Stay where you are or we’ll kill you,’ then we will stop and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come on up and fight,’ then we will go up. That will be the Lord’s sign that he will help us defeat them.”

When the Philistines saw them coming, they shouted, “Look! The Hebrews are crawling out of their holes!” Then the men from the outpost shouted to Jonathan, “Come on up here, and we’ll teach you a lesson!”

“Come on, climb right behind me,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “for the Lord will help us defeat them!”

So they climbed up using both hands and feet, and the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed those who came behind them. They killed some twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over about half an acre.

Suddenly, panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and in the field, including even the outposts and raiding parties. And just then an earthquake struck, and everyone was terrified.

Saul’s lookouts in Gibeah of Benjamin saw a strange sight—the vast army of Philistines began to melt away in every direction. “Call the roll and find out who’s missing,” Saul ordered. And when they checked, they found that Jonathan and his armor bearer were gone.

Then Saul shouted to Ahijah, “Bring the ephod here!” For at that time Ahijah was wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites. But while Saul was talking to the priest, the confusion in the Philistine camp grew louder and louder. So Saul said to the priest, “Never mind; let’s get going!”

Then Saul and all his men rushed out to the battle and found the Philistines killing each other. There was terrible confusion everywhere. Even the Hebrews who had previously gone over to the Philistine army revolted and joined in with Saul, Jonathan, and the rest of the Israelites. Likewise, the men of Israel who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim joined the chase when they saw the Philistines running away. So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle continued to rage even beyond Beth-aven. (New Living Translation)

The vicinity of Micmash (modern Mukmas) in Israel

Israel had demanded a king. The people wanted to be like everyone else in the world. All the other nations had a king. The Israelites believed that they needed one, too. (1 Samuel 8)

Not unlike today, Israel got a king who looked the part. Saul was tall, dark, and handsome. The only problem was that he didn’t act much like a king at all.

On the day he was anointed king, Saul hid in the baggage, like some guy ducking into a dumpster to avoid people chasing him. If the kings of other nations acted boldly on behalf of their subjects, Saul was not that sort of king. He seemed bent toward cowardice, and more concerned about his reputation than actually accomplishing anything.

Saul could have distinguished his royal kingship through listening to God and obeying the Lord; instead, his rule and reign was often marked by a half obedience, if he obeyed at all.

Old Testament stories are filled with contrasting characters. And in the narrative for today, there is a clear difference between King Saul and his son Jonathan. Saul was supposed to be leading the charge against the Philistine threat to Israel, but he was hiding out.

But Jonathan was determined to deal with the arrogant Philistines, even though it meant going against an entire garrison of troops with only his armor-bearer alongside him.

In the story, we find Saul and the army cowering in secrecy. But we find Jonathan in the bright light of day for the entire Philistine army to see. The contrast couldn’t be any more obvious:

  • Saul is afraid, and Jonathan is brave
  • Saul is fearfully passive; Jonathan is faithfully aggressive
  • Saul could only see reasons not to face the Philistines; Jonathan saw no obstacles to facing them, even though he had to scale crags and thorns in order to get to the Philistines

The opposite of faith is not unbelief; it’s fear. All of the Israelite soldiers were afraid, except Jonathan and his armor-bearer. The two of them had remarkable faith.

Jonathan had full confidence in the power of God. It wasn’t stupidity that led him toward an entire army by himself; it was the firm conviction that nothing is too difficult for the Lord.

It was neither pride nor glory-seeking that caused Jonathan to go, against all odds, to fight the Philistine army. He simply reasoned by faith that perhaps God would work on their behalf and bring about a great deliverance for Israel.

What’s more, Jonathan trusted the Lord without making assumptions that God would act in a particular way. There wasn’t any ‘name-it-and-claim-it’ theology happening with him.

Indeed, God did intend to defeat the Philistines. Maybe the Philistines thought Jonathan was bluffing by coming up to them; and they were going to teach this guy a lesson! But false confidence is typically shown through talking smack, whereas real confidence is born of faith.

Trust fully expects God to show up and take on injustice, unrighteousness, and arrogant pride.

Jonathan did some damage; and God got into the thick of it by directly intervening. The Lord turned the tables by bringing great fear on the Philistines. This turning of the tables emboldened the Israelites. The result was a decisive victory for Israel, leaving Philistia slack-jawed and confused.

We may be uncertain about the future; but if we are pursuing a good thing, and are confident in God’s power, there’s no need to be afraid in pursuing it.

We are free to step out in faith and attempt great things for the sake of the Lord, knowing that God may indeed bless our trusting initiative.

Almighty and everlasting Father, you have given the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever: Bless us with divine grace and presence so that, being preserved in true faith and confident hope, we may fulfill all the good that is in our mind and heart to do; through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, today and always. Amen.

Jesus Is In the Room (Luke 24:36b-48)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Jesus appears to the apostles, by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319)

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (New Revised Standard Version)

Hanging Out and Scratching Their Heads

Christ’s disciples were abuzz. Two dudes showed up and told eleven of the original disciples that they had seen and talked to Jesus himself! This was a lot to wrap both their heads and their hearts around. Could they dare to hope it is true?

Peter and John encountered an empty tomb. And now these guys from Emmaus are giving this wild testimony of a risen Savior. Into the weird mix of doubt, curiosity, grief, hope, wondering, and outright confusion, Jesus materialized out of the blue saying, “Peace be with you.”

Already feeling unsettled and uncertain, the disciples had anything but a peaceful response to the presence of their Lord. Startled, troubled, and frightened they were, as if somebody had just dropped a skunk into the room.

Why the fear? Why not be overjoyed or overcome with sheer delight at seeing Jesus?

The disciples were caught off guard, as if they had zero expectation of seeing Jesus. Believing him to be dead, they immediately went to thinking this was some ghost. After all, the door was locked. Nobody could have gotten into the room without the disciples knowing it. (John 20:19)

A fresco of Christ appearing to the disciples, in the Visoki Dečani Monastery, Deçan, Kosovo

Face to Face with Faith

As it turns out, faith and belief are not uniform static terms. There are layers to faith. Yes, the disciples really did believe, and their faith developed over time with Jesus. However, their belief had not yet come to full bloom. So, in this sense, they still possessed a lack of faith and were rebuked by Jesus for it. (Mark 16:14)

A full-orbed belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is more than words, more than making professions, and more than signing-off on a doctrinal statement of faith. Faith is shown for what it is through our actions. (James 1:19- 2:26)

Faith comes to fruition when the head, the heart, and the hands all align together and conspire to proclaim the gospel in thought, word, and deed. If they are misaligned or incongruent with each other, then that faith is inadequate. There is yet another level to the belief which needs to emerge.

Perhaps this is instructive for people today. While maintaining beliefs about the person and work of Jesus, and acknowledging Christ’s death and resurrection, some Christians live as though Jesus had never risen from the grave. If Jesus were to suddenly show up and say, “Peace be with you,” like a startled puppy, they’d likely have an accident on the floor.

It’s a Real Resurrected Body

As Jesus had done so many times before in his earthly ministry, he invited the disciples to experience him in a real, tangible, visceral way. This is no ghost. This is a Christ who has physical flesh and bones. You can eat with this Jesus, real food and drink. Look at his hands and feet. Touch and feel them if you must. But, by all means, believe!

Christ is risen. So, now what? This is what the earliest of disciples struggled to understand – how to live in the reality of resurrection, and how Jesus is present with his followers. Christ is with us as a real human and as the real God.

Although Jesus appeared to be a ghost because he could seemingly pass through things, he is not. Christ has a very real body with flesh and bones, although it is a glorified resurrected body which isn’t quite the same as our current earthly bodies. He feels hunger and eats food.

Today’s story follows the Emmaus Road experience in which two people encounter the resurrected Christ. They didn’t even notice that it was Jesus and that they were looking at a glorified body. In that story, Jesus went with them and had a meal around the table.

The Disciples Are Now Witnesses

The eyes of the disciples were opened so that they could truly see Jesus for who he really is. And it happened in their communal eating together – just as it did in the previous story with the friends from the Emmaus Road. Specifically, their new spiritual sight enabled them to be witnesses to the reality of Christ’s resurrection.

The disciples seeing Jesus empowered them to proclaim the good news that repentance for the forgiveness of sins is real; deliverance from our guilt and shame can really happen, when we confess it and turn from it. No more being locked-up in a room in fear, or in a metaphorical personal prison of anxiety.

We Are Now Empowered

The post-resurrection encounter of the disciples and Jesus would not be confined to a one room lock-in experience. The Spirit of God will come upon all sorts of people, all over the world. The sadness of crucifixion and death transforms into the joy and confidence of gospel proclamation. A true release from the shackles of fear and guilt result in a giddy blabbering about Jesus everywhere one goes.

It turns out that seeing and touching Christ’s wounds on his hands and feet doesn’t evoke bad nightmares, but elicits good dreams for the future of faith – that resurrection is a reality, is reachable, and is a path to experience the blessing of God.

Jesus is in the room, my friend. Let your fear be changed into joy.

Holy and righteous God, you raised Christ from the dead and glorified him at your right hand. Let the words of Holy Scripture, fulfilled in Jesus your Son, burn within our hearts and open our minds to recognize him in the breaking of bread. Amen.

Shining the Light On Our Fears (Mark 9:2-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year B1 Comment
Transfiguration of Jesus, by Armando Alemdar Ara

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. 

Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. (Common English Bible)

The transfiguration of Christ was a glorious experience on the mountain for those closest to Jesus. Yet, we are told that Peter, James, and John – the inner circle of Christ’s disciples – were terribly frightened.

Peter, always the extrovert of the group, and forever their mouthpiece, nervously babbled-on without making any sense because he was so nervous and afraid.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus would take three of his disciples with him to experience such an incredible vision? Why did Jesus show these men something so otherworldly that they nearly soiled themselves? 

I will tell you why I think Jesus put his close disciples in such a glorious, yet frightening, position as this:

Because the only way to see Jesus as our only hope, we must face our fears, insecurities, and anxieties, squarely, without hiding from them.

Jesus did not relieve their anxiety. He let his disciples feel the full impact of their fear. The glory of Christ shone show brightly that Peter, James, and John could not hide from what was happening to them, and could not avoid what was in their minds and hearts. 

Only through shining the light on the shadowy place of our fears and insecurities will we ever be able to accept that we need a savior. And that savior is Jesus, the light of the world, the Lord over fear, anxiety, and discouragement.

The invitation which Christ extends to us is to move further into our fears, face those fears, and sit awhile with our fears, so that we can see how desperately we need the Savior Jesus. 

No one seeks a savior when they don’t even believe they need deliverance from anything. “I’m just fine, thank you very much!” says the independently self-sufficient person among us. To seek salvation, for such a person, is an intensely personal affair; they will look within, not without. It will take quite the desperate situation for them to consult someone who knows the ways of the soul.

But the one who sees what is truly inside of them, and is aware of their fear of connection; the scary prospect of confrontation; the anxiety of what will happen; or, the discouragement of failure; this is the one who is then able to hear the voice of God, and listen to Jesus give the answer to our most pressing life issues, worries, and concerns.

Jesus Christ wants to change us from the inside-out. He helps us by showing us not to avoid the fears which cause us to be beside ourselves, but instead, to face those fears and confront the anxieties within. 

The bright light of God’s presence enables us to see very clearly all that is within us. And Christ’s intimate relationship with us assures us that change is possible. Then, the Holy Spirit comes and empowers us for transformation, so that we may shine, along with Jesus, and let the light help others, as well.

You and I are never alone; we always have the glorious presence of Christ with us as we walk through dark valleys and ascend high mountains. 

It is the wonderful existence and omnipresence of God, in Christ, through the Spirit, which makes all the difference. We were created for connection with the divine, not for separation and loneliness in our fears.

Glorious Christ, you love me with a grace and mercy which always has my best interests in mind. Help me through my most pressing fears and failures so that I might see your glory, hear your voice, and know your constant presence. Amen.

Learning a Lesson from Balak and Balaam (Numbers 22:1-21)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Balaam and King Balak, by Maerten de Vos, 1585

Israel moved from there to the hills of Moab, where they camped across the Jordan River from the town of Jericho.

When King Balak of Moab and his people heard how many Israelites there were and what they had done to the Amorites, he and the Moabites were terrified and panicked. They said to the Midianite leaders, “That huge mob of Israelites will wipe out everything in sight, like a bull eating grass in a field.”

So King Balak sent a message to Balaam son of Beor, who lived among his relatives in the town of Pethor near the Euphrates River. It said:

I need your help. A large group of people has come here from Egypt and settled near my territory. They are too powerful for us to defeat, so would you come and place a curse on them? Maybe then we can run them off. I know that anyone you bless will be successful, but anyone you curse will fail.

The leaders of Moab and Midian left and took along money to pay Balaam. When they got to his house, they gave him Balak’s message.

“Spend the night here,” Balaam replied, “and tomorrow I will tell you the Lord’s answer.” So the officials stayed at his house.

During the night, God asked Balaam, “Who are these people at your house?”

“They are messengers from King Balak of Moab,” Balaam answered. “He sent them to ask me to go to Moab and put a curse on the people who have come there from Egypt. They have settled everywhere around him, and he wants to run them off.”

But God replied, “Don’t go with Balak’s messengers. I have blessed those people who have come from Egypt, so don’t curse them.”

The next morning, Balaam said to Balak’s officials, “Go on back home. The Lord says I cannot go with you.”

The officials left and told Balak that Balaam refused to come.

Then Balak sent a larger group of officials, who were even more important than the first ones. They went to Balaam and told him that Balak had said, “Balaam, if you come to Moab, I’ll pay you very well and do whatever you ask. Just come and place a curse on these people.”

Balaam answered, “Even if Balak offered me a palace full of silver or gold, I wouldn’t do anything to disobey the Lord my God. You are welcome to spend the night here, just as the others did. I will find out if the Lord has something else to say about this.”

That night, God said, “Balaam, I’ll let you go to Moab with Balak’s messengers, but do only what I say.”

So Balaam got up the next morning and saddled his donkey, then left with the Moabite officials. (Contemporary English Version)

 Art by Sefira Lightstone

Israel was at the cusp of finally entering the Promised Land. They had been delivered out of Egyptian slavery, wandered in the desert for forty years, and defeated all the tribes of the Transjordan in order to get to where they were going.

Fear had fallen on all the people surrounding Israel because of their success. The nation of Moab knew that Israel would not be defeated in battle; but maybe they could be defeated in a different way. So, they hired a professional seer to put a curse on Israel.

The seer, or diviner, Balaam, initially refused the offer, even though it was a lucrative one. But he finally acceded and went, with the caveat that he could only do what the Lord tells him to do.

Balak, the Moabite, desperately wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites. Balak essentially hired the most famous and effective diviner he could find. He fully expected all this to work in his favor, in order to give him an advantage over Israel.

Was Balaam a real prophet of God, or just a self-serving shaman? Although our text for today is essentially positive in its tone, subsequent generations look back on Balaam and understand him as in league with evil. (Numbers 31:8, 16; Joshua 13:22; Micah 6:5; Jude 11)

Although as biblical readers we might be somewhat flummoxed about what to really make of Balaam, he really serves as a mirror to the nature of humanity. For we are all people who are capable of both great evil and altruistic good, and everything in between. There is no such thing as a person who is all bad or all good; all of us are some sort of mix of the two.

Therefore, every one of us needs to be vigilant in how we shall then live – what choices we will make, what sort of goals we will establish, and what kind of people we will listen to and follow. If we seek to take some lessons from this story, perhaps we might do well to consider the motives of the main characters Balak and Balaam.

Balak was filled with dread and fear. Sickening fear and anxiety is most certainly one of the great emotional and spiritual hazards of our time. His debilitating fear was that he and his nation would be destroyed by Israel.

Yet, if you consider this, it is a groundless anxiety. Israel was all too willing to pass through on their way to the Promised Land without a fight. It was only when attacked that they fought back and destroyed other nations.

Balak wasted a bunch of wealth and worry on something that wasn’t even going to happen, unless he himself provoked it. It is likely that worry, fear, and anxiety, like Balak, is not serving you well; it’s keeping you under the tyranny of what might happen. And it is in such a state that we make poor decisions, such as consulting diviners to assuage us of the worry.

Balaam allowed himself to be manipulated into believing he could make his small fortune. After all, this nation of people needed him, and he perhaps vainly imagined he was doing the right thing and being above board.

But Yahweh is not like other gods. In reality there was no way Balaam was going to cajole God to get what he wanted. It may have worked that way in paganism, but wasn’t going to happen with the sovereign Lord of the universe. In the end, it was God who used Balaam for God’s own purpose – and not the other way around.

Some people want they want, and arrogantly assume that if they pray a lot and have their requests offered on many prayer chains, or that if they just use the right language and exhibit enough passion, that God will surely have to answer them and give them what they want. But Christian prayer is not like other prayer:

When you pray, don’t talk on and on as people do who don’t know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Don’t be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask. (Matthew 6:7-8, CEV)

Everything comes down to trusting God and obeying his commands. When all is said and done, after all the fear and worry are spent, there is God, waiting for us to come and place faith in the divine law and promises.

Everything you were taught can be put into a few words:

Respect and obey God!
This is what life
    is all about.
God will judge
    everything we do,
even what is done in secret,
    whether good or bad. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, CEV) Amen.