Fear Not

In the past weeks, I’ve been sharing my need to recover my fearlessness and embrace my mind’s inconceivable. One of the things I shared was the fear that held me captive in my relationships, namely my marriage. And one of those fears I mentioned coming to past was being shamed and disgraced.

During my season of greatest marital challenge, God had given me Isaiah 54. I remember He first led me there as I was piecing together curricula for our ministry’s afterschool program with this verse: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (v. 10).

With water-filled eyes, I looked up the remainder of the text and then proceeded to ball my eyes out. And as if I could forget, it was not simply a cry but a gut-wrenching wail that lasted well into the night. Here it was that my life and marriage were being utterly shaken, yet God was reminding me that His love nor His covenant would be shaken or removed from me. And not just any covenant, but one of peace. My circumstances were not peaceful but my foundation as I rested in Him was.

And it was in these passages that God encouraged me not to fear. In fact, He seemed to be commanding me, albeit gently, not to be afraid:

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood” (v. 4).

How is it that God says fear not, you will not suffer disgrace or humiliation? Because if I could raise my hand and interject for a moment— Lord, I know you said I wouldn’t suffer disgrace and humiliation but uhh that situation. Umm those past years of my life felt like a whole lot of disgrace and humiliation.

Now on the other side of that difficulty, I can even more confidently share why God says fear not. He gives us the answer right there in the passages of Scripture: “For your Maker is your husband – the Lord Almighty is his name – the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.”

The first thing God reminds us of is that though human love may fail and reject us, His does not. He promises to be an always and forever Husband to His bride. You become as Cinderella who was once locked away and forgotten in raggedness, yet is now noticed, chosen, and made stately by the King.

Further down in the text, God shares the second reason you need not fear disgrace or humiliation – His gift of restoration to His redeemed bride:

“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones” (v. 11-12).

His promises are continued with more encouragement that you would have nothing to fear.

What I love about God is that He can see you thirty years from now while you only can see you thirty minutes from now. In that moment, which may have spanned a few minutes or perhaps even decades, you did suffer those things. But God is speaking beyond our human experience and comprehension. He speaks eternally. He calls these trials and tribulations of our lives, light and momentary afflictions that pale in comparison to the glory we will have in eternity with Him.

He says when I deliver you, you aren’t even going to recall those things. They will be but a vapor and as if they never happened. No more pain and no more tears.

There is also a now-ness of this wholeness and restoration that God can give us even if He never returns the relationships and the people or replaces them with upgraded editions. He gives us something far better. He says that when you have such a trust in His goodness and remain in His love, you’re not even going to care about the disgrace and humiliation you may have endured. His love and peace envelop you so that you are sheltered from the jeer of man and the coldness of your storm. He guides you through as He did the disciples on those rocky waters and whispers to you again, fear not.

Is there a difficulty you’re facing in your life right now and God’s Word seems to be contradicting your experience? Only one of those are true. One may be a fact, but only one is true. God’s Word is the truth. So in the midst of that challenge choose to look to and trust what He says even when it doesn’t look like, feel like, or seem like it’s ever going to end. It will. Fear not.

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