Welcome to Daily Steps! 
A weekly devotional message with daily scripture readings and prayer prompts to help you spend time with, and draw closer to, Jesus.

Psalm 42:1,5 (NLT) — How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world. You hide them in the shelter of your presence, safe from those who conspire against them. You shelter them in your presence, far from accusing tongues. So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!

Sheltering in the Shadow of the Most High

In our modern culture, we never use the word “fear” in the context of anything good. And especially now, living in the shadow of a global pandemic, the concept of what it means to be fearful has risen to an entirely new level. That’s why this may sound ridiculous to most of us, but there is a right kind of fear...a good kind. A powerful one. A fear that is capable of not only driving your actions, but also transforming your mind and changing your heart forever. Once you discover this kind of fear and allow it to penetrate your heart, it will fuel your trust and help you become more fearless little by little, day by day. 

This right kind of fear is mentioned throughout the Bible. Psalm 103:11 tells us “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.” Psalm 31:19 says that God stores up and delivers great goodness to “those who fear” Him. The promises associated with the right kind of fear also show up in the New Testament. Acts 9:31 says the early church flourished because the followers of Jesus walked in the fear of the Lord and actively dwelled in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The prophet Isaiah confirms that even Jesus Himself both walked with, and delighted in, the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:2-3). 

Because of their Jewish heritage and religious training, the early Christians understood exactly what it meant to have a fear of God and how essential it was to receiving His protection, blessings, and help for coping with daily life. Many first-century believers were Hebrew, or at least, understood the Jewish culture enough to know that the word for fear meant “a deep kind of feeling from the gut” that motivated unwavering reverence and awe. In his 1986 Christianity Today article “Fearing God,” William D. Eisenhower offers one of the best explanations regarding the paradox of fearing God as a path to experiencing a fearless life. He said, “Unfortunately many of us presume that the world is the ultimate threat and that God's function is to offset it. How different this is from the Biblical position that God is far scarier than the world …. When we assume that the world is the ultimate threat, we give it unwarranted power, for, in truth, the world's threats are temporary. When we expect God to balance the stress of the world, we reduce Him to the world's equal …. As I walk with the Lord, I discover that God poses an ominous threat to my ego, but not to me. He rescues me from my delusions so He may reveal the truth that sets me free. He casts me down, only to lift me up again. He sits in judgment of my sin but forgives me nevertheless. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion.”

When we fear, as the early Christians understood that word, permission to come up under the wing of His love is granted. Psalm 91:1-2 declares boldly: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” Shelter, fortress, refuge, hiding place, rock, and so many other strong words are used repeatedly throughout the Psalms to convey God’s desire to offer us protection from the world and anything in it that attacks us. No matter what form the attacks against us take, from malicious people to invisible lethal viruses, we are promised His abiding love, presence, and ultimately eternal life. As theologian J. Alec Motyer said of God’s protection," the promise is not security from [harm] but security in” God Himself. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He assured the disciples that nothing could harm them in Matthew 10:28-30. "Don’t be in fear of those who can kill only the body but not your soul. Fear only God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. You can buy two sparrows for only a copper coin, yet not even one sparrow falls from its nest without the knowledge of your Father. Aren’t you worth much more to God than many sparrows? So don’t worry. For your Father cares deeply about even the smallest detail of your life.”

As we enter yet another week of uncertainty, it’s all too easy to let your fears drive a wedge between your heart and God’s. But here’s something to keep in the forefront of your mind. When you let the fear of God rule over you, then there’s nothing else you need to fear. When you listen to the Holy Spirit whisper that He is with you no matter what and you take the leap to believe in that truth, then you're on your way to getting that “deep kind of feeling in your gut” that the Psalmist had as he wrote these words in Psalm 46:1-3: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”