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| (All things were created through Him and for Him) |
Psalm 23: 1-4 "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for You are with me; your rod and your staff - they comfort me."
Imagine you have just cried out - you call or text a friend in the most hurtful, tragic, chaotic moment of your life. They respond: "I will fear no evil."
How would you receive this? Sadly, for so many of us we live our lives outside the centrality of God's peace; for so many receive the "platitude" poorly. "Really? I will fear no evil" - "That's cold! Sterile! Heartless!" Sociologists suggest that because of increasing social disconnect (which is argued exists despite technological over-connect) we both crave genuine empathy, sympathy and compassion for ourselves yet lack it for others. The selfie phenomenon provides the case in point.
Even in the midst of disaster so many of us are framing ourselves as the center, seemingly oblivious to the suffering of others around us. I read recently about "disaster selfies" - I had assumed this would be about people who, wanting to be noticed had gone to extremes to get the ultimate selfie. Instead I found stories of people in disaster situations at catastrophic moments taking and posting selfies with the disaster as the background. We, it seems use others' suffering to draw focus to ourselves! The more shocking the scene the better! And it "works" - people give superficial attention - tens-of-millions of "likes" for the most gruesome backdrops to pictures of "me." I could go on but we get the point - in this "selfie culture" anything that shifts focus from me is deemed offensive. Cold. Sterile. Heartless.
"I will fear no evil" should trigger a different response in the people of God. It should remind us who IS at the center of life and thus should restore peace as we recall that God IS present at all times. It should trigger the memory that God alone leads us to permanent persistent peace. Even in the face of death He is there and with Him we walk fearlessly! (Psalm 23)
In Romans 28 Paul writes that if we love God He will bend every circumstance (even the stuff that God Himself hates) for good. Do we believe this? Can we trust God to do this?
Suppose we stood together at the foot of the Cross as Jesus hung there battered and bleeding. Suppose we looked up. What would we think? Horror? Defeat? Disbelief? Abandonment? Suffering? Would we demand: "Why God? Why did you let this happen?"Jesus healed. Jesus fed. Jesus comforted. He never hurt anyone. He was kind, He showed mercy and He loved. Jesus is a good man; why are You letting this happen? If you and I witnessed this paramount moment in God's rescue mission among us we would assess the circumstances completely wrong. We would certainly doubt any good could or would come of this! We would probably pray that God would change the plan and bring Jesus down from the cross alive! Yet everything that is good for us comes because of Jesus' death on the Cross. God will bring goodness out of every circumstance for His people just as God brought good from the horror of a cross. I think we can trust God in every circumstance of our life. Trusting God and loving God are two sides of the same coin ...
God is with us always, our Emmanuel; in Him we can live fearlessly! "I will fear no evil" recalls the peace promised in the birth, life, death and love of the Christ of Christmas.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way."
