Do Not Fear . . . You Are Mine

Last week, the pressures of my call caught up with me in the middle of the night.  I was awakened by an intruder.  No, it was not a burglar or robber at 2:00 AM, but the intrusion of the troubles of the day that stirred me up in the night.  My dad used to say, "If you cannot sleep, you might as well get up and work."  I have considered that counsel and accepted it as my own. Some of you may have received notes from me in the night.

But last week was different.  I did not awaken from my slumber to work but to sit in chair downstairs in the dim living room and stress out.  I was panic-stricken, scared to death.  I felt a wave of insecurity crashing down over my head.  I was awash in self doubt and self pity.  "Woe is me!"

In the midst of the stress, I reached for my Bible and thought, "What is the one text that I would remember as my spiritual compass if all the other texts in this book gone?  What text--more than all the rest--would speak with clarity to my trouble?"  The answer was not long in coming:  Isaiah 43:1-7.  This is my text in the sleeplessness of the night.  This is my text for the trouble.  I hear God stillspeaking to my soul in this ancient oracle.

I am persuaded that Jesus found his courage to confront the powerful forces and paralyzing feelings as he moved through his ministry--and, especially, during the days of his Holy Week.  He found his courage to live and to die in the relationship he had with his Father.  I believe the Hebrew scriptures and the hymns of his faith made his heart brave in the midst of his terrible fear.  They kept his purpose and destiny ever before him.  He was faithful unto death, even death on a cross.

And so, I share my memorable passage with you as our Holy Week begins:

But now thus says the LORD,

     he who created you, O Jacob,

          he who formed you, O Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

     I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

     and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

     and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I have Egypt as your ransom,

     Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my sight,

     and honored, and I love you,

I give people in return for you,

     nations in exchange for your life.

Do not fear, for I am with you;

     I will bring your offspring from the east,

         and from the west I will gather you;

I will say to the north, "Give them up,"

     and to the south, "Do not withhold;

          bring my sons from far away

          and my daughters from the end of the earth--

     everyone who is called by my name,

          whom I created for my glory,

          whom I formed and made."

--New Revised Standard Version

When your night is long and your fears threaten to unnerve and destroy you, in every season of uncertainty, may you know that you are held and loved forever by the God who has created, formed and made you. 


In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.