The Promise (3)
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10 NASB
Anxiously look about– The Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains offers the following:
שָׁתַע(šā·ṯǎʿ): v.— LN 25.251–25.269 (qal) be in fear, i.e., be in a state of great alarm, with a possible focus of discouragement about the future (Isa 41:10, 23), note: NIV translates “dismayed;” [1] The verb is also translated “to be afraid,” but our English Bibles don’t like to use the same words again and again, so here the translators have employed the idiomatic expression “to look anxiously about” rather than repeat “do not fear.” But Hebrew isn’t quite so elegant. God starts with “Do not fear.” Then He repeats himself. “Do not be afraid.” It might not be eloquent grammar, but it is necessary psychology. Fear doesn’t go away just because I tell you it should. I have to hear the promise of safety many times before I can break through my wall of anxiety.
Let’s paraphrase: “Don’t fear. With you I am. Don’t be afraid and act in ways that make you anxious. I am God; your God, not just any god but the God who is with you in every possible way. You are safe with Me.” Okay. Now read it out loud.
“Don’t fear. With you I am. Don’t be afraid and act in ways that make you anxious. I am God; your God, not just any god but the God who is with you in every possible way. You are safe with Me.”
Until we are safe, psychological and spiritual growth is truncated. The opposite of safe is survival. To survive is to reduce psychological and spiritual growth in order to conserve energy to stay alive. Hardship might produce resilience and develop character, but true growth is a function of vulnerability and vulnerability is not an element of survival. God must break through my protective shell of survival in order to heal my fear and allow me to grow.
“for I am your God,” says the translated text, but the Hebrew is ki-‘ani ‘eloheka. It is more than “for.” ki is a big umbrella particle. “as though, as, because that, but, certainly, except, for, surely, since, that, then, when, etc. A particle expressing a temporal, causal, or objective relationship among clauses expressed or unexpressed.[2]
Now re-read the verse and substitute each of these possible expressions in the phrase “_____ am your God.” Multidimensional safety.
It’s a beginning.
Topical Index: šā·ṯǎʿ,look anxiously, afraid, safety, ki, for, Isaiah 41:10
[1]Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)(electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2]Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 976 כִי. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 437). Chicago: Moody Press.
Sometimes to the course of time are studying changes our statements. I also use studylight classic, devotionals. Today’s word, which is also by. Skip
The word there today expressed. A double meaning also, Hebrews 13:5 I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you. Which comes from Deuteronomy 31 .6. It was actually expressed as a three-point meaning word. A place meaning down 4 emphasis to leave behind the expression is he would never, God would never. Forsake it almost a parallel for today. The imagery I get is, coming out of the Red Sea, looking behind, and seeing the armies of Israel come up being plummeted by the water. It was today’s reflection Isaiah 58:8 saying that your light will break forth like the dawn, in your healing will come quickly, then your righteousness will go before you and I will be your rear guard.. coupled with Isaiah the cloud and the pillar of smoke, what was before them, and behind them. This was an intense set up oh, God was all around them. Leading them and guarding them from behind. Plus he is a blessing on her head a blessing on your head scripture come up I think of the example of Joseph blessing his sons, with his hand on their heads. Yeshua wanting to to bless the little children. The biblical evidence sound biblical Doctrine. That’s the Lord blesses us on every turn. When we are in his well and looking for him. Thank you Skip and Friends. We all need to be reminded as his children we are blessed by The Father’s Love.
Amen, brother.
Trust is about being safe. False gods promise security (um, on the order of mob protection, anyway). I think we want to trust these things not of God – we think that we must do deals with the devil – because we ‘trust’ that evil is in control.
I think prosperity, for example, appeals to us because we can see that it provides the accouterments that the world sees as that safety. Money/(race, gender, nationality, heritage, etc.) buys security (we think, anyway): but these earthly sources of power are the coins of the world’s security systems, not of God’s. We can use this ‘money’ to buy our way into worldly influence; education; retirement and health plans (all of which can substitute for trust in God); the communities of the world (which can function as substitutes for the Body of Christ); as well as false religions/belief systems (which all require some sort of ‘works’, which money/power can facilitate). We can also use money/power to buy our way OUT of natural consequences, too: legal, moral, social, biological. We do this mainly by using the wealth of the world to oppress others/rest of creation into carrying our consequences for us (sad bad fact). This is why I think it can be hard for those rich in earthly goods to learn the lessons necessary from those consequences: they can keep buying their way out of that education. It is harder for the poor, I think, to miss the lessons evil has to teach, for the poor of earth typically are expected to bear a disproportionate share of the consequences of the evil choices of others, as well as their own. (Yeshua seemed to think there would be a disproportionate number of poor in the kingdom. Would this be why?)
We put our real trust in what we fear. Stop and think about that one a long time. We trust what we believe has power, but what we believe (paradigm) has that power is driven by our experience OF that power: specifically, what made us afraid. If God is not making us more afraid of displeasing Him than we are of anything else, it is because we have bought into something that promised us ‘safety’ FROM HIM: a fig leaf behind a bush. (When we believe that, fear has a bridge out in a midwestern state it wants us to look at, too: I think fear is always angling to enlarge its territory.) I have decided that behind every fear is a desire to avoid love. Go check your fears out today: I bet there will be a lie about love behind every one.
I think God is COMMANDING us to not fear in this verse. (Read the statement: it reads as a positive command.) Therefore, to fear anything or one other than Him is a sin – disobedience to that command. I think He may be telling us to come out of the bushes and trade in our fig leaves for the skin covering of the Lamb that takes away all our need to hide. Our fears tell us where our trust (true belief) lies. Sin promises us ‘protection’ (hide) from the demands of love: God promises us protection (again; hide) from the lies about love. We can’t have both. The question is, do we want to hide from love, or do we want to hide from sin? That want will determine which set of promises we choose to believe (trust). May we trade in our trust in the promises of earth (which is doing its best to hide from God) for the promises of heaven today!
When everything within you insists that only this worldly
reality exists, then this worldly reality has you, and you better
just get used to it.
If, on the other hand, you are “nudged” by a momentary flash
of “something else” existing within you, that mountain-top
momentary flash is His wake up call to acquaint you with a
far larger reality than you could ever possibly imagine without
that nudge.
Yeshua told Nicodemus that “nudge” was the call to be “born again”,
where you willingly surrender your addiction to this world, and with the
Spirit’s help, you wake up to His vast kingdom that awaits within you.
When this event actually happens, nothing will ever be the same again!
We spend years building our own shields, but the sharpest pains in life often come from our own swords. (author unknown)
Fear is in the driver’s seat, but I am working on it. This is my new mantra as you wrote above: “Let’s paraphrase: “Don’t fear. With you I am. Don’t be afraid and act in ways that make you anxious. I am God; your God, not just any god but the God who is with you in every possible way. You are safe with Me.” Okay. Now read it out loud.”