Free From Fear
I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? (Isa 51:12-13)
Let the text itself be taken as the portion for today.
There is no need to enlarge upon it.
Trembling one!
Read it, feed on it, and plead it before the Lord.
He whom you fear is only a man after all; while He who promises to comfort you is God, your Maker, and the creator of heaven and earth. Infinite comfort more than covers a very limited danger.
“Where is the wrath of the oppressor?”
It is in the Lord’s hand. It is only the fury of a dying creature; fury which will end as soon as the breath is gone from the nostril. Why, then, should we stand in awe of one who is as frail as ourselves?
Let us not dishonor our God by making a god of puny man!
We can make an idol of a man by rendering to him excessive fear as well as by paying him inordinate love. Let us treat men as men, and God as God; and then we shall go calmly on in the path of duty, fearing the Lord and fearing nobody else.
He has already said “I have overcome the world!”
That means all your foes and evil forces against have been already defeated by Him!
Then, why are you afraid? “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” (Proverbs 29:25).
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).