FEAR NOT: Because God Is
Day 8The Lord Is Peace
Scripture
Judges 6:23–24 · · ESV
For seven years, Midian had oppressed Israel. For seven years, Gideon had watched them sweep across the land at harvest, destroying crops and taking livestock until Israel was left with very little to eat. Israel had been brought very low. Many people had taken refuge in caves and mountain strongholds, and there was little food left.
So Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding it from the Midianites.
Wheat should be threshed in the open, where the wind can carry away the chaff.
But on this day, God met him there.
The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon.
Gideon questioned the angel and asked for a sign. He asked the angel to wait while he prepared an offering. And when fire rose from the rock and consumed it, the angel disappeared.
Suddenly Gideon understood.
He had been in the presence of God.
“Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the lord face to face.”
Gideon thought he was going to die.
His fear had changed.
He had entered the winepress hiding from the Midianites. Now he feared that he would not survive because he had been in the presence of God.
And then came that quiet word from God:
Peace.
Do not fear.
You shall not die.
God did not begin by removing Gideon’s circumstances.
The Midianites were still a threat, and Israel was still suffering from their oppression.
Instead, God gave Gideon peace.
And Gideon built an altar and named it “The lord Is Peace.”
Sometimes we come to God carrying one fear, only to discover that what we most need is not an immediate change in our circumstances. We need the assurance that God is with us and that His peace is not dependent on everything around us changing.
I may be thinking:
When my child is okay…
When the test results come back…
When the bills are paid…
When this conflict is resolved…
Then I can breathe.
Then I can have peace.
But Gideon’s altar was built before Midian was defeated.
The enemy was still there when Gideon named that altar.
The Lord Is Peace.
What if peace doesn’t begin when my circumstances change?
What if it begins with knowing the One who meets me there?
The things I fear may still be there.
But so is God.
FEAR NOT when peace seems far away.
BECAUSE GOD IS your peace.
What situation have you been telling yourself must change before you can finally rest?
Prayer
When I am waiting for circumstances to change before I can have peace, remind me that You are already here. Help me rest in who You are, even when the things I fear are still there. You are my peace.
Amen.
Amelia