Whom shall I Fear?

Psalm 27:1

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

As a young believer in Christ, my mentors and pastors would often encourage me to read a Psalm each day and a Proverb, and I did for years.  But the tyranny of the urgent, work, pleasure, family, was always there and ninety percent of the time I had little or no recall of what I read.  So as I matured in my walk with the Lord and became His follower, and this took years.  I began to ask the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts, and open my mind on how to be a man who learns and listens.

So ponder on verse one today, ask the Holy Spirit who lives in you, that is, if you invited Him into your life, by the faith God has given you.  My first thought was to check my spiritual life as often as I check the oil or tires on my car to make sure they are at the correct levels?  The apostle Paul gives us this instruction in 2 Corinthians 13:5-6,  ^“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?  Unless indeed you fail to meet the test!  I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.” 

You passed the test or you would have quit, so the next question is am I doing as David did and not allowing the tyranny of the urgent keep me from basking in the light of my salvation?  Are have I allowed the world to mold me with its practices of fear of the unknown?  If you find that is where you are at this moment, stop and ask the Father to remind you of who He is and what He has done for you through the blood of His Son.  It helps me to recall the promises made to each of us, in Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

I often ask the Lord, am I looking to God as my security, or am I foolishly looking to my own resources?  Often, I’ve been looking to self or others, and when I do come to that understanding, I confess, seek forgiveness and return to my Father, much like the Prodigal son did in Luke 15:11-31. 

Now let me share a significant victory in my life, for most of my life I've been ruled by fear; today, I have a healthy fear of God, not of the world and it’s desires, for God is the stronghold of my life!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice