No Safety from the Storm

Genesis 15:1 – God told Abram, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."  


This is the first time God refers to himself as a shield.*  Let's pause for a moment... God said, "I am your shield."  I find this interesting... if God is speaking to you, audibly, why would you be worried about needing a shield?  If God is speaking to you, audibly, why would you be worried about needing anything?   Good grief, God's talking to you!  Why did God have to say to Abram, "don’t fear I am your shield?" 

I'm guessing there's something in that sentence uttered to Abram that should give us a clue about God's expectations.  A shield isn’t for running away from battles.   Apparently God is going to allow us to go into battles.  If not He would’ve said, "Fear not, I am your Nike’s.  You will run swiftly away from all things negative or troublesome."  Curious.  God says, “Don’t fear, I am your shield.”   Specifically “shield”.  A shield serves a purpose.  It protects someone in danger.  When God moves in your life you will move into battles, trouble, calamity, challenges, experiences, mountains, valleys, and difficult times.  It’s not a shield to go away from danger but into danger. 


There is no safety from the storm.  There is only safety in the storm.

*Sometimes commentators of Scripture will talk about the law of the first occurrence or mention.  This refers to the first time a word or phrase is used in the Bible.  It's helpful to pay attention to the first mention because it's being mentioned in such a way as to highlight the essence of the word or phrase throughout the rest of Scripture.  The dialogue between God and Abram in Genesis 15 contains several 'first occurence' phrases.  

Being Motivated

Randy Alcorn reminded me a while back that we are motivated in three ways:

Fear
Love
Reward

My children will obey based on fear, love or reward. Each of these motivators has their place. Each has value. It's true with our relationship with God. It's true with our relationship with our leaders. There should be a balance. Think about those you follow or those who follow you... is there a balance between these three? If it's out of balance, why? What can you do to change it?

Beginning... or Finishing

What keeps us from beginning... or finishing?

Fear of...
Others
Pain
Rejection
Failure
Change
Embarrassment
Vulnerability
Critics
Loss
Poverty
Being Wrong
Madness
Death
Success
_________ (fill in the blank)

I watched the movie, Valkyrie recently. Good film, though it was sobering. I was reminded that Hitler wanted to be an artist. This isn't in the show, but apparently at age 18, young Adolph took his inheritance money and moved to Vienna to study art. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts. I think fear won out.

"It was easier for Hitler to start WWII than to stare at a blank piece of canvas." Steven Pressfield, from The War of Art

The Anvil

This is for a new acquaintance, Maggie (sp?) who I met yesterday at church. She was commenting on the 'Winners and Losers' from a couple weeks ago...

When will we remember that those who are “last are first”, that “unless something dies it cannot come to life” and that it’s okay to lose an argument? (When’s the last time you heard any preacher/politician admit to that?) Yes, it’s counter-intuitive and it feels like we are being hammered to death at times but Christianity is an anvil that has worn out many hammers!
from 'Branding Christianity' post.

(BTW - I've always felt like when you begin quoting yourself that it's a bad sign but the whole "anvil, hammer" thing wasn't actually original with me. I can't remember where I read it but it was hanging around in my brain and fit for the post. So, see, I'm kinda not quoting my self! Reminds me of something Rick Warren says, "The first time you use my material, credit me. The second time say, 'It's been said.' The third time say, 'You know, I've been thinking.'")

Selling Fear

A rant for a moment on negativity that runs through our society. Just a small observation… here in Phoenix where it rains very little, of course, we’ve had something like 2 or 3 inches all year. If you were to watch the news (I did once a couple of weeks ago) you would learn how concerned we should be over the lack of rain. Never mind that we live in a desert and the reason it’s called a desert is because periodically we don’t get enough rain. Recently we got a couple inches of rain over the weekend. If you were to watch the news (which I didn’t but I know this happened) you would learn that you should be concerned about how much rain we got… roads washed away, cars stuck, floods, etc… Doesn’t anyone else notice this? This use of fear to constantly assault us? Why do they do it? Because it sells.

Fear is an easier sell than hope.

• Modern Medicine? Essentially focused on fighting disease instead of building health.
• Clinical Psychology? Focused on pathologies instead of optimism. (Dr Dan Baker in his book, What Happy People Know, written in 2003 cites that at recent count, “there have been 54,040 professional articles written on depression and 415 on happiness.”)
• How bout marketing and advertising? Do they not prey upon your fears of not having enough, not being good enough, sexy enough, smart enough, etc…?

What about the educational system, economy, religion...? Hmmmm...

The world is selling fear. Are you buying?