Swampland
YHWH is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
Fear – The question is rhetorical. The expected answer is “No one.” But that answer usually leaves out the one person that I really do fear. Even when no one else can bring me low because the Lord is my shepherd, there is still an echo of the Garden in this question. Whom shall I fear? Me, that’s who! I am the only one capable of wrenching myself out of the Lord’s protective cover. I am the only one able to murder myself in my desire to control my own destiny. I might not fear any other person, but when I meet God in the Garden, I might answer as Adam did. “I heard You walking and I was afraid.”
Perhaps we could use a quick refresher course on Adam’s startling response. Take another look at our exploration on June 15. In the swampland of desire, the creature I must fear is me. Put aside all those unwarranted concerns about other people and see the truth. You are the enemy of your soul. Adam knew it. David knew it (Psalm 51). Yeshua knew it (Luke 12:20) and Sha’ul knew it (Romans 7). No wonder Rav Sha’ul cried out, “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). Is there any protection against the enemy within?
Yes, thank the Lord, there is! The same God who delivers me from my outside enemies knows my internal battle as well. He knows the weakness of my frame and the destructive penchant of my animal ego. He came to deliver me from the body of this death resident in my very being in the world. Oh, by the way, that’s why conversion is dying. We don’t help by putting the emphasis of conversion on life ever lasting. We would serve the lost much better if we actually told them the answer to our deepest fear is dying. That is the only answer for this kind of fear. The enemy must die so that I might be freed from its terror. God tells me the absolutely amazing answer to my greatest torment, the fear of myself, is that I can die and still live through Him. Life in the Spirit is the only life free of this fear because “I no longer live but rather, Christ lives in me” (Romans 8: 9-11 and Galatians 2:20).
There’s not much more to say, is there? All the people of the world seek ways to stay alive. The Christian knows the answer is to die. The world fears death because it is the final loss of control. Christians know dying is the only control we have. It’s everything upside down. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Everybody who wants the presence of the Lord knows that dying is the only way to get there.
Topical Index: fear, yare, Genesis 3:10, Psalm 51, Romans 7:24, Romans 8:9-11, Luke 12:20, dying, Psalm 27:1
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I have known this all along. Just never had words for it. Thaks, Skip.
And then to lay down your life for others. That’s the test to tell whether we have died completely to self:)
Thanks for the messages about fear, Skip. It is where I am attacked the most, but mine is fear of being tramatized since I have been in the past. It is something the enemy takes advantage of in my life bringing mental pictures of tramatic things. The Lord continues to prove Himself faithfully in charge even through trama. He encourages me to refocus on Him when the thoughts come.
Kay
Skip … At times this self battle can be quite the complex dynamic. The idea that I am the enemy of my own soul might lead to an implication that “flesh” is bad … and to an extreme extent to the Gnostic conclusion that flesh is evil.
Perhaps it is a good time just to keep in mind your commentaries relative to “basar” and “sarx” and the fundamental differences between the two! 🙂 …. Let us of course not forget as well “yetzer ha’ra”.
Actually this is a perfect case in point brother Skip where your teachings relative to some individual trees …. when woven together, shed much light on a very broad and complex aspect of our very existence.
b/t/w … I was wondering if there was a library piece that you may have done in the past where you have put all of these together into one teaching? If not … no problem … the story already exists in a variety of teachings … thanks for putting so much order around the chaos that is our own “self”!
Faith is our response to what G-d says. He has spoken. Our (right) response of course is obedience. My “choice” is to agree (confess) with what is written in the Lamb’s book of life. I don’t exactly know why (of course) but Colossians 3.3 has been echoing in my head today- “For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in G-d.” We might do some good brother Skip to camp out here awhile and get a firm grip on this “enemy within”, known in biblical terms as “the flesh”. The apostle Paul stated emphatically in Romans 7.18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:” -and of course we are familiar with the big three- the world, the flesh, and HaSatan, our ever present “challenges”. I would “confess” or agree-my biggest enemy is the dude I shave everyday. HaSatan- “the accuser” is the Prince of Posers- his teeth were pulled at Calvary. Gotta lotta bark, (and some foul-smelling breath), but no bite. The world?- lust (wrongful desire) of the flesh, lust (misplaced desire) of the eyes, and of course the pride (ego) of life. Doing, having,and being- we are slammed from every direction! (Almost, thou persuadest me to be a Christian!-lol!) The flesh, as far as I can determine (and I promise I’ve got scads to learn!) is who I am apart from or without Christ. The “natural” man. Without G-d, I am self-centered, self-absorbed, self-protective.. shall the list go on?- it could. Self anything. Any form of “self”. Looking out for old numero uno! “me-ism”- after all the world centers around me doesn’t it? Self-centeredness is “eccentric” or off-center and out of balance. Christ is the center, Christ is the circumference and Christ is the compass. Google “thirty-one kings” by A.B.Simpson. It was a great help to me to I.D. the “enemy within”. Meanwhile “back at the ranch”, “who shall deliver me”, as was Paul’s plea, can be and should be ours as well. “Ask” and you shall receive is the promise we have from the “peace-speaker”. Whose very name is “Deliverance” (salvation)?