Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33:18-19 NKJV)
Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand … He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.
(Isaiah 40:10-11 NKJV)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NKJV)
The love He pours out upon us can give us reason to forget our fear of the Lord. Yet the same God named “Good Shepherd” is also named “Mighty Terrifying One.” The same Father who covers us with His wings in protection chastens His children.
Perfect love casts out fear. Our love is not yet perfected, and it is good to cling to our fear of the Lord even in the midst of our love and praise, looking forward to the day love is perfected.
Lord YHWH, Your might and righteousness are good and inspire our awe. Your love and tenderness comfort as much as Your gentle discipline. Teach us love You as perfectly as heart, soul, mind and strength are able.
"He's not safe, but he's good." — C.S. Lewis
Feedback invited. Post to BuildingHisBody.com "Comments" or e-mail to BuildingHisBody@gmail.com. © 2008, Anne Lang Bundy
surrendering "all" isn't easy. i watched a video the other day about an incident that took place in iraq. it seems that our soldiers and the iraqi army had a taken a prisoner and was letting him remove weapons from his dead comrades. as the prisoner moved from one body to another and tossing the weaapons up on the bank, his captors were taunting him with insults. i guess the prisoner had enough of it. he lifted a dead man to retrieve a an automatic rifle. instead of tossing it out of the ditch, he quickly turned it on his captors and began firing it on full automatic. he shot the camerman too. it wasn't long though before he joined his comrades. don't ask me why/where i'm going with this thought. it popped into my head when i thought about surrendering.
ReplyDeletebut maybe it's because the enemy has been taunting me with some things. how often do we hear don't listen to the lies of the enemy? i've never heard anyone say don't listen to the truth of the enemy. is he capable of such a thing? that's what i'm asking myself of course. i think so. but i also recognize it's what i do with that truth that matters.
Bud, sorry to be so long in replying after being out of town. Your comment appeared on "Fear of the Lord." Not a problem. (The post didn't have any comments on it.)
ReplyDeleteWe don't surrender under compulsion, without choice. We see that we've been in bondage to an enemy that pretended to be our friend, who was exploiting us. We then recognize the far superior Power, Who loves us, and is far more powerful that the one who used us for himself, letting us think we had ourselves.
We're never free agents. The enemy tries to tell us that we are, when we belong to him, so that we'll go along with his schemes to hurt ourselves. The Lord YHWH is up front about what He wants. He wants us to surrender to His ownership, to belong to Him and not ourselves. But He also promises to love us, do good to us and for us, and defeat the enemy that pretended to be our friend.
As for those soldiers, it doesn't matter which country's flag they were wearing, it appears to me that they were working in cahoots with our enemy the devil, who always wants opportunity to destroy life, whether gradually (with drink, drugs, depression) or all at once with a weapon of some sort.
Be assured, Bud, you are surrendering. It's just a matter of deciding whether you surrender in defeat to an enemy, or in victory to a Friend.