Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Is it a sin to be afraid? You say No. Okay. Let me ask another question: can fear deprive you of the protection God would like to give you?
Two men delivered the same God-given message to wicked King Jehoiakim and his court. God protected one man from the death the princes threatened; but He did not intervene to protect the other prophet from being slain by Jehoiakim's sword. Why the difference? Was God showing partiality?
"Urijah the son of Shemaiah" proclaimed the same message faithfully "in the name of the Lord." "When Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death." Then Urijah did what you and I would feel like doing. "He was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt." Surely God would have wanted to protect him from that murderous hatred; but something made it impossible: Urijah "was afraid" (Jer. 26:20, 21).
In contrast, when Jeremiah proclaimed the same message and the "priests and the prophets [and] princes" threatened to kill him (mind you, these are all God's people, members of His true church!), Jeremiah stood his ground boldly. "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard. ... Know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants" (vss. 10-15).
Jeremiah's holy boldness made it possible for God to impress the "princes and all the people" to protect Jeremiah (vss. 16-19). Agape is the kind of "love divine, all loves excelling" that casts out fear. The Holy Spirit wants to "pour it out in our hearts" (Rom. 5:5; 1 John 4:18). Let Him do so!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 11, 2001.
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