"This Amazing Scripture"

As I was reading this morning I ran across this amazing scripture that seemed to stay with me throughout the day, so when it came time share with you, this is where I ended up. Back at this amazing scripture! ...But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior ... Is 43:1-3 

I have to say it again, "This is an amazing scripture!"  I have so much to share with you that I think we'll have to break it down into smaller, bite size portions. So here it comes, Part 1 - FEAR NOT, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU;

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are mine."

Amazing sentence!  To start with He says, "Fear not," so, I looked up the word fear, not because I don't know what fear is or haven't experienced it on a personal level because fear is something we all deal with, all the time. I decided to look it up because I wanted to see exactly what He is telling me not to do. The word fear, comes from a root word that simple means... to fear...to revere...to frighten.

I don't know about you, but as for me, I never really thought about the word revere in terms of the things that put fear in my heart. I revere God! He is the One I revere. The One who is my Great Big God, Amazing, Wonderful, my All in All, and Worthy to be praised! At least that is what I thought, BUT if you stop and think about it, when we "fear" something, whatever that something is, it tends to loom up there pretty large. It can get really big, really fast. If fear gets its grip on us, it becomes the thing we focus on. The thing that consumes us and even motivates our actions if we let it. Stop and think about it. We all have things, for example ... If you were to drop any kind of rodent, mouse, hamster, ferret etc. on the floor next to me, I would be sitting on the top of your head faster than you could blink!

The the word, revere, it does work here because the thing we fear can easily become the biggest thing in the room,  the thing that fills up our hearts.

When He is specifically saying, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you;" what He is trying to make us understand is: 

•  Fear not = Don't revere it, Don't look at it as though its bigger than me!

•  For = Because

•  I have redeemed you = I already took care of it! Don't let it trick you! I'm bigger!

As we come to the end of  Part 1 - Think about the issues/circumstances that have you worried and afraid of what the outcome might be. 

Acknowledge Him, His authority, His provision and lay hold of His word..."Fear not, for I have redeemed you."