So how do we overcome FEAR? Some people will tell you that you simply need to face your fears. So if you are scared of cats then lock yourself in a room full of cats! However, this isn't the Bible's advice. NO. The Bible tells us that the more we KNOW God, the less that FEAR will paralyze us. Now, when the Bible talks about KNOWLEDGE, it is not talking about memorizing a list of dates and names. NO. It is talking about KNOWING through experience. And so to truly KNOW God, we need to put the Bible into ACTION. This is why FAITH is emphasized so much in the BIBLE. FAITH is a type of KNOWING that results in DEPENDENCE and ACTION. This is what God desires from His people and what is necessary for His people to accomplish His mission.
As we've seen so far in our reading of the Bible, God has called His people (beginning with Abraham) to give their lives to a crazy SCARY mission. God wants to make Abraham into a large community of people ("Great nation"), who live on a specific piece of property ("land"), who become prominent throughout the world as they live by God's perfect creation design ("Great name"), and whose prominence attracts the world back to God ("bless all the nations through you"). The plan is SIMPLE. But the plan is also SCARY. And so God knows that He needs to reveal Himself to His people to give them the confidence they need to fully engage their lives in His mission. This is precisely what happens in the book of Exodus!
Exodus begins with three unfortunate realities: 1.) God seems to be absent from His people, 2.) The people of God seem to have no knowledge of God and 3.) The people are unable to worship God because they are slaves to the King of Egypt (Pharaoh). However, by the end of Exodus God has revealed Himself in significant ways to His people so that they are free to truly worship Him in the tabernacle where His presence dwells. The unfortunate realities have been removed. And so by the end of Exodus, God has reassured and enabled His people so that they can fully engage in His mission.
EXODUS 3-15
God's rescue of the Israelites from Egypt in Exodus 3-15 was THE primary experience through which God reassured and enabled His people. So what did God teach them through this experience? Well, it all began with God revealing Himself to Moses as "I AM" (Exodus 3:14). Now let's be honest, this self-revelation is not very helpful. I mean how helpful would it be if you asked a new classmate about himself and he said, "My name is Skip and I AM"? That's not helpful at all.
So what did God mean when He described Himself to Moses as "I AM?" Well, in light of Exodus 3:12 it could be God's shorthand for communicating "I will be with you." However, I believe the phrase is purposefully unclear because it is used to introduce God's upcoming revelation of Himself through the signs/plagues. In other words, God is saying, "I AM...(who I will reveal myself as being through the signs/plagues you are about to witness)." And so, the plagues/signs give meaning and content to the name I AM.
So what do the plagues/signs teach us about who God is? Well, Exodus 9:10 gives us the answer.
“I have raised you [Pharaoh] up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”God wants to show His power for the world to see. And Exodus 3:19-20 tells us that He will do this through His mighty HAND when it says,
“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them.”What is interesting here is that it is Moses and Aaron's HANDS (and the staff of God) that actually perform the wonders among the Egyptians (7:19; 8:5-6; 8:16-17; 9:22-23; 10:12-13; 10:21-22). What does this tell us? God gives Moses (and Aaron) His power and authority. They represent God to the Pharaoh! Does this sound familiar? If not, think Genesis 1:27.
We quickly see that God demonstrates His power and authority over all of creation through Moses and Aaron's HANDS. Moses and Aaron stretched their HANDS (and the staff) over the waters of Egypt, the dust of the ground, the air, the sky, and Egypt (itself). This gesture was done before each sign to indicate over which domain God was demonstrating His authority. And so through the signs/plagues, God proves that He is King over the water, the ground, the air, the sky, and the nations. And by controlling each of these domains God shows that He controls life, fertility, health, weather, death, and all (supposed) gods.
God also demonstrates through these signs that because He has authority and power over every realm of existence, He alone can reverse the curses of Genesis 3 and bring order back to the world. Now, Pharaohs at this time claimed this same authority. In fact, they were given the responsibility to maintain ma'at (order). But notice that while Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate many of God's signs (and by doing so add to God's curses), they were not able to remove God's curses to restore things back to order (Exodus 8:8-15). This tells us that while evil forces can multiply curses, they can not remove them. Only God and His empowered people can restore this broken world!
THE BOTTOM LINE
This is the very mission that God has given you and me: To restore a broken world. And with God's help we can do it. We can overcome evil with good. We can join God in reclaiming what is rightfully His. But this mission is SCARY. And by taking on God's mission we put a lot on the line: our comfort, convenience, popularity, success, self-advancement. . . This is SCARY. And at the end of the day, we will be paralyzed by FEAR if we do not trust that living out God's mission is BETTER than all of this stuff. But this TRUST will only come by getting to KNOW God.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
At school, what fears hold you back from outwardly following God?
How well would you say you know God? Would you say your knowledge of God is more intellectual or more experiential?
What practical steps can you take to know God better (in an experiential way)?
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