“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.'”
Yesterday’s post about peace came exactly at a time we needed it most — yet another senseless mass shooting that once again raises so many questions. Today’s verses are poignant in the midst of such a time when we are traumatized and fearful. Peter quotes a passage in Isaiah that is a message for our modern culture as well. In short, don’t follow the people around you when they speak fearfully — we know that the only one we need to fear is God himself (and he is on our side).
If we are eager to do good, we find protection simply in that. You will generally be in the right place at the right time instead of the wrong place at the wrong time if you are following God’s ways. But even if you find yourself in harm’s way, needlessly suffering through no fault of your own, God sees. And he blesses you. So we do not fear the threats of our world. We will not be frightened by evil in any form.
Here’s your freedom for today: evil cannot win the war. God is watching, waiting, intimately involved in the permanent rescue of this world. A redemption story above all other redemption stories. Yes, some days things look really bad. We wonder where God is in the midst of tragedy and pain. But if we believe the Bible at all — if we believe that God has revealed himself in its pages — then we must cling to our faith that he has already overcome. We do not see. He sees. We do not know. He knows. We are impatient. He acts at precisely the right times. If our faith cannot stand on a day like today, then it cannot stand at all.
Pray with me: Jesus, we cling to you today, sitting in your presence and hiding under your wing. We ask for healing and redemption for all those injured and for the families of those who perished in Las Vegas yesterday. We repeat your words with great urgency: may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.