Do Not Fear

We have often used this verse badly, and it is worth admitting that before we use it again. We have handed it to each other as a promise that the frightening thing will not happen.

It promises nothing like that, and you can see why if you read it one piece at a time and notice what is missing. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee" promises His presence with you in the trouble. "Be not dismayed; for I am thy God" tells you who He is. Then come three verbs: "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee." All three assume you are still standing in the hard place and need holding up inside it. Nowhere does the verse promise that the exile will be called off, and it was not called off. These words were spoken to a people who still went into captivity in Babylon.

Notice, too, what the passage says about whether they deserved it. One verse earlier God says, "Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away." Four verses later He calls the same people "thou worm Jacob," which is hardly flattery. So the comfort does not rest on how strong they were or on what they had promised.

The last part of the verse is the one we usually skip: "I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." God does not say the right hand of His fondness. He says His righteousness, the part of Him that does not change with how your week went. That is why it is the part that does not let go when you do.

So take the promise exactly as it stands, no more and no less. You are not promised that the diagnosis is wrong, that the money arrives, or that your child turns out the way you hoped. You are promised that the hand under you belongs to a righteous God. It is holding you now, and it does not slip when you slip.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 72 is Chief (1 Timothy 1:15).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna