Living in the Spirit
October 8, 2020
Scripture Reading: Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
The noun fear means an unpleasant emotional state characterized by anticipation of pain or great distress and accompanied by heightened autonomic activity especially involving the nervous system, agitated foreboding often of some real or specific peril*
The verb fear means to have a reverential awe of*
Fear, the noun, is often out of our control. A car runs a stoplight in front of us, and we slam on the brakes, barely missing it. We may pull over to the side of the road and shake for a few moments while gathering our wits. Fear, the noun, is a God-created natural phenomenon that heightens our reaction to potential danger.
Fear, the verb, describes being so distressed by something threatening, we give it the reverence reserved for God. The Psalmist used this verb form in the 23rd Psalm. It is also used in admonitions throughout the Bible to “fear not.” God is always with us in any peril we face, and God is mightier than any evil that confronts us.
We often use evil as an adjective describing a bad act. Evil is also a noun meaning the fact of suffering and wickedness, the totality of undesirable, harmful, wicked acts, experiences. It is also described as a cosmic force producing evil actions or states**.
Psalm 23 places God’s loving care as more powerful than evil, both as a cosmic force and all the bad acts it perpetuates. We indeed can take comfort in that.
Prayer: God who is love and who loves beyond measure, we thank you for your abiding presence with us as we confront evil in our lives. Guide us in our responses that we do not return evil for evil but be conduits of your love to forge a better world. Amen.
*https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/fear
**https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/EVIL
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.