No Fear

Yesterday I ran across some notes I made a couple of years ago while studying Psalm 91, because sometimes I can get into my Bible study nerd mode.

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence."

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge: his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.  You will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day, not the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday. (Psalms 91:1-6)

Whoa.  Stop.  That's where my notes come in - pestilence - DEADLY PESTILENCE.  What does it that word even mean?  Pestilence.   Webster defines pestilence as a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating; specifically: bubonic plague.  Plague is defined as a disease that causes death and spreads quickly to a large number of people.

Then my notes take up with a list of the Top Ten Worst Plagues throughout history. There were quarantines, destruction of infected private property, protective walls built around cities, wars won and lost, and spread through soldiers, merchants and caregivers. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the plagues now thought to be the black plague, bubonic plague, smallpox, measles, and typhus. There were horrors and there were heroes.  And there was fear.

When I was studying this scripture earlier, I was thinking about things like cancer and old age and dementia and Alzheimer's disease.  But if we fast forward to the present, we find Ebola, a definite pestilence plague with it's horrors and heroes and FEAR.  News reports tell more information, some true and some not, than we need to know and the real outbreak just might be FEAR. 

There is a wonderful warm fuzzy quote going around that says something like:

The phrase

"DO NOT FEAR"

is written in the Bible 365 times

That's a daily reminder to live 

every day being fearless

While I was counting the scriptures, to check the validity of that statement, I came across someone who had already done the math.  Just as I suspected, the quote is not true. But even if God had said it only once, wouldn't it be enough for every day of the year? Just once. Some other clever, creative Bible study nerd made a more correct sign.  You can go to her blog to download and print it.  I like it.

Click here to download and print 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

God said,

"DO NOT FEAR."

The guide at the Hjemkost Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, said the Scandinavian builders of the original stave church used more Christian symbols than Viking symbols, indicating they were growing in their trust of God instead of dragons to protect them from evil spirits. No Fear.

She also said that people infected with the plague, would have stood outside in the passageway, hungry for the word of God, and listen through the small window in the sanctuary.  Fear Not.

God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)  Fear Not.

To keep the fear beat back, read Psalm 91 again and see that God says that not fearing comes from living in the shelter of the Most High, resting in His shadow, telling Him that you trust Him, hiding under His wings, and the result will be that He will save you, be your shield and you WILL NOT FEAR the deadly pestilence or the plague.  

It's a command not a suggestion.  

FEAR NOT