• July 2023

    • Fear not

      Author: Rev. Douglas McCallum

      Dear CPC Family,

      The Bible is full of comforting promises. Take, for example, Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

      Spoken by the Lord to his people in exile (these words were proclaimed prophetically by Isaiah over a hundred years before Judah experienced its Babylonian captivity), God tells his weak and suffering saints not to be afraid. In the preceding verses (Isa.41:1-7), Isaiah has described the tumults and upheavals that have come upon the world at the hand of Cyrus the Great, the mighty Persian emperor. In response to the turbulence of those times, the nations panicked in fear and foolishly sought help from their idols (see Isa.41:5-7).

      But the Lord reminds his people that, in the midst of such worldwide commotion, he is absolutely sovereign. He tells them that it was he who “stirred up one from the east” and who gave “up nations before him” (Isa.41:2). In other words, it was the covenant Lord – the God of Israel, he who is the first and the last (Isa.41:4) – who sovereignly raised up Cyrus, who gave him victory over the coastlands, and who would, in due time, use this mighty Persian emperor to set his captives free so that they could rebuild the temple of Jerusalem (see Isa. 44:28). Cyrus was not the absolute, omnipotent king of the world; he was an earthly ruler in the hands of the God who is. And, before long, the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth would blow on Cyrus, make him wither, and cause the tempest to carry him off like stubble (cf. Isa. 40:24).

      Therefore, God’s people had no need to be afraid. Why? Because this God – their God – was with them. He was with them in all of his absolute sovereignty, power and love. And they could be sure that, as they walked through the valley of the shadow of death, their mighty and most tender divine Shepherd (cf. Isa. 40:11), was with them to strengthen them, help them, and uphold them with his righteous right hand.

      We live in a world beset with fear. Just this past week, the UN Secretary General has announced that “the era of global boiling has arrived” and that “it [climate change] is terrifying.” I am not qualified to know whether Antonio Guterres is right or not (although I have to admit that I think there is a certain amount of ‘alarmism’ associated with the reporting of some of the extreme weather events we have heard about recently). My point is simply this: Guterres' statement is symptomatic of the kind of climate (no pun intended) in which we live – a climate of fear.

      As Christians, we should not let ourselves get caught up in such a maelstrom of panic. I am not for one minute saying that we should not be concerned about the disasters and tumults that afflict our world, or that we should not be involved in trying to mitigate their effects. Love for God and love for neighbour demand that we take action to do good and to reduce evil. However, we are to obey these Great Commandments in the context of worldwide tumult from a heart of quiet, reposeful trust in the God who, as in Isaiah’s day, reigns high over all.

      Fear not, brothers and sisters. Whatever you are facing, on both a macro- and a micro-level, fear not. For the Lord your God is with you. And he, in his Son and by his Spirit, will strengthen you, help you, and uphold you with his righteous right hand.

      With love in Christ,

      Doug