Today’s scripture: Psalm 34 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (John Seskay):
How can advice tell us to be afraid and not be afraid at the same time? How does having fear drive out fear? In my Oxford Annotated, the verses read:
4 “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
7 “O fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for those who fear Him have no want. “
Many of life’s fears are about us every day: poverty, disease, violence, calamity. We see them every night on the news. How can we not be consumed with a constant, draining anxiety for our safety and well-being? To be in the world is to sail on a very troubled sea whose tides and storms assail our fragile lives continuously!
To sail such seas safely, we must find a reliable compass. One whose directions we can trust to steer us to relative safety. The compass will not make the sea calm, but it will give us a sense of direction and the ability to steer ourselves away from worse trouble than we already have. It will give us the confidence to take action when our fears would paralyze us otherwise. It helps us hold a course when trouble would redirect us off a chosen path. It will not always have us take the path of least resistance!
The fear of God is different from all other fears. All other fears speak of things whose coming will do us harm. The fear of God speaks of the one thing whose absence will do far greater damage. The fear of God provides a quality of restraint that steers us away from things that obviously harm. It also gives us faith and trust to ride out storms of trouble that sweep us up in their path. Otherwise we are sailing the sea of life without a rudder or a compass!
Thought for the day: Dear Lord, help me constantly set my rudder by Your compass. Your Word is the greatest source of stability in a world full of turmoil. Your Spirit provides the buoyancy I need to sail through life’s troubles!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.