Not of this world

I was pressed so hard that I almost fell, but the LORD came to my help. Psalm 118:13

For the Lord spoke thus to me with His strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.  Isaiah 8: 11-12

And let Him be my peace.  This was a lunch discussion yesterday after church at BisonWitches around nacho chips with extra jalapeños and soup bowls of bread.  What does it mean when He says, “Peace I give you, not as the world gives you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid?

We live in a world that fear has by the throat.  We are subjected to a nonstop influx of fear-mongering: of collapsed economies and war and rumors of war and drug lord alliances and computer virus and hacking and North Korea with a crazy trigger finger.   Our own flesh can churn up fears of its own: what will the future bring?  How will I live?  What shall I do? And for me, as always, What about the children?

And yet, over and over, God demonstrates His holiness, His set-apartness.  He is God Almighty at work in and through and about all things.  Manuel, the English director from Guatemala, can sense it in all the little details of their journey- from a silly but happy Rose Parade in Tombstone to John O’Hair’s piercing words about breaking down barriers.  I can sense it in happenstance conversations with Weston, with Darci, with the West University Neighborhood Association.  Nicole can sense it deep within her heart as she wrestles not unlike Jacob.

As Fred transcribed notes from yesterday’s sermon, he asked, “What does it mean ‘He is our Peace’”?  For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.  Ephesians 2: 14 And while this passage specifically describes the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Greek, between the “us” and “them” that haunts all human relationships, He also destroyed sin, which divides us from the Holy One.  He ripped down the curtain, once and for all.  Nothing can ever separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Whom then shall I fear?  Of what should I be afraid?