"DON’T BE AFRAID"
TEXT II KINGS 6:8- 23
On summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can’t dear, I have to sleep in Daddy’s room." A long silence followed. At last is was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"
5 year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go alone. "It’s dark in there and I’m scared." She asked again and he persisted. Finally she said, "It’s OK-Jesus will be in there with you." Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once an idea came, and he said, "Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup."
Today, we continue in our series, "real people - true stories"... In week one, we went on Mt Carmel with Elijah -- we saw him whoop up on hundreds of false prophets and we took home the lesson -- we need to get off the fence -- IF God is God then we need to serve him with ALL our heart, mind, soul & strength. Last week we talked about Deborah and how she is an example to mothers (parents) who want to bring life, ‘true’ life back into their homes....(my your childrens relationship with priority #1; encouraging them, disciplining and reminding them of God’s power)
Today’s real person is Elisha (not to be confused with Elijah) - and the true story is found in the book of 2 Kings chapter 6 - and I have chosen the tittle "Don’t be Afraid."
Have you ever said those words to someone? a friend? a spouse? or a maybe to your child who has just come into your room after a bad dream? and you tell them "DON’T BE AFRAID..."
HAS SOMEONE EVER SAID THOSE WORDS TO YOU, "DON’T BE AFRAID"
AS A CHILD OR MAYBE EVEN AS AN ADULT....
Have you ever been afraid? Are you even afraid right now?
Fear is a powerful emotion -- it can grab us and grip us with an immobilizing terror or dread.
One popular author in one of his books, in talking about fear relates the following story.
He was a professional thief. His name stirred fear as the desert wind stirs tumbleweeds. He terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line for thirteen years, roaring like a tornado in and out of the Sierra Nevedas, spooking the most rugged frontiersman. In journals from San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier....
During his reign of terror between 1875 and 1883, he is credited with stealing the bags and the breadth away from twenty nine different stagecoaches crews. And he did it all without firing a shot.
His weapon was his reputation. His ammunition was intimidation.
A hood hid his face. No victim ever saw him. No artist ever sketched his features.
No sheriff could ever track his trail. He never fired a shot or took a hostage. He didn’t have to. His presence was enough to paralyze.
Black Bart. A hooded bandit armed with a deadly weapon...
Black Bart reminds me of another thief that’s been around for awhile -- one who is still riding the trails today and one who is found riding the trails in 2 Kings.
You know him -- but like Black Bart, you’ve never seen his face, either. You can’t describe his voice or sketch his profile. But when he is near -- you know it in a heart beat.
If you’ve ever been in the hospital -- you’ve felt the leathery brush of his hand against yours.
If you’ve ever sensed that someone was following you -- you’ve felt his cold breathe down your neck.
If you’ve ever had to do something or say something that involved confronting someone -- and lay awake the night before -- He was the one who stole your slumber. You know him.
He was the thief who left your palms sweaty as you went for a job interview.
He was this con man who convinced you to swap your integrity for popularity...
It was him who got you to say and do nothing rather than deal with the problem, to keep your mouth shut when you should have spoken up.
And it was this scoundrel, who whispered in your ear, "no one really cares about you" when you felt the need to reach out for support.
He’s the Black Bart of the soul. he doesn’t want your money. He doesn’t want your valuables and he won’t go after your car... What he wants is your peace of mind -- what he is after is your joy.
His name -- you’ve probably guessed it -- is fear....
Fear wants to steal your joy, take your courage and leave you cold, naked and trembling. He’s modus operandi (mode of operation) is to manipulate you with the mysterious, taunt you with the unknown. Fear of death, fear failure, fear of defeat -- fear of rejection, fear of being alone, fear of God -- fear of living -- Yes his arsenal is vast... AND what is his goal? To create cowardly joyless souls...
You see, Fear doesn’t want you to make the journey to the mountain... Fear figures that if he can rattle you just enough, you will take your eyes off the lofty peaks of life, and settle for a dull, drab, safe existence in the flatland...
Today I want to encourage with the words, DON’T BE AFRAID -- Which is a phrase that occurs 88 times in the Bible -- and is mostly spoken by God to his people.... And when these words are spoken by God.... we can trust them.
This phrase occurs in our text today....
The event we are going to talk about, takes place during the time when the nation of Israel was divided into 2 kingdoms - Israel in the North & Judah in the south. Before we begin our story let me introduce to the list of characters...
Elisha - He is a powerful prophet of God; He was a student & successor of Elijah - (remember - Mt Carmel & the 450 prophets of Baal). Elisha did some pretty awesome miracles; he healed the sick, multiplies food - he even raised the dead...
Joram - He is the King of the North - the son of Ahab & Jezebel who we meet a couple of weeks ago.
(Elisha a student of Elijah - Joram the son of Ahab & Jezebel... I think it’s pretty safe to assume that these guys didn’t have too many BBQ’s together.)
Ben-Hadad - He is the king of the Arameans - a nation that was fighting against and harassing the Northern kingdom....
Unnamed servant of God - Elisha’s new servant & student.... Elisha’s last servant (Gehazi) was fired and given leprosy for taken kick backs...
Question; Do you remember a time when you were really afraid? Maybe it was a person? Maybe it was a time when a person was chasing you....
I remember one of the first times a really stood face to face with fear, I was in the fifth grade (11 years old). I lived in Baltimore Maryland. I went to Loch Raven Elementary School. Now I lived about ½ a mile or so from school and I had a choice to ride the bus or walk - I walked with my friends.
One of my good friends at the time was a kid named Mark Herman - when I think of Mark usually 2 events pop into my mind. One was when Mark’s dad caught him smoking... And made him eat a pack of cigarettes... I still can see Mark coming to the door - his face was white and he had about a ½ a pack to go.
Well, one day Mark and I are walking home from school, kind of hanging out by some apartments. Now do you remember how when your 11 years old and you are with a friend you feel invincible (like you can take on the world) and you usually do some pretty stupid things...
Well, Mark & I were walking alone...and we looked and their was Jack Lux - a kid in high school on his bike delivering the evening paper..We didn’t like Jack he was kind of a neighborhood bully want to be.
Jack was about 50 or so feet from us... and a couple of rocks were just a few inches away. All at once an idea popped in our minds... Jack is jerk - why don’t we toss some rocks at him...
Heck we probably won’t hit him anyway....So we each picked up a good sized rock and we let them go - and both of them nailed Ol’ Jack - knocking him off his bike....
Mark & I stood there stunned - kind of blow away that we actually hit him, a first feeling kind of good... THEN Jack got up and fire was pouring out of his eyes.... And then he saw us... Said some things I can’t repeat.. Hopped on his bike and headed our way...
What do you think we did - hey we had him out numbered right? I mean here was our chance to take a stand....
We ran... fast... In a state of real panic.. We knew we were just moments away from getting our face smashed... We ran in between the apartments around corners up hills - hearts pounding -- all the while knowing we were moments from death... Finally we found an open door leading to one of the apartments basements.... We ran down inside, breathing heavily, listening intently, occasionally hearing murderous threats outside...
We were hunted and we were hiding.... And we stayed down their for about 3 hours... I don’t think either of us said a word... We both finally got home about 7 pm.
In our story Ben Hadad is hunting - he is after King Joram...And like Jack Lux there is fire in his eyes - he wants him bad...
But Ben Hadad kept running into problems. He would gather his men together and map out a strategy, but every time he set up an ambush, Joram would always avoid that area - and this was really starting to tick Ben-Hadad off.
Now what was happening (unknown to Ben-hadad) was that Elisha the prophet, was warning the King of Israel about where the ambush was going to take place. How did he know - God told him....
Even though Joram was not a good king (black hat), and him & Elisha were not fishing buddies nevertheless he still revealed to him, the message that God had given him.
And whenever Elisha would warned the king -- the king would first sent out scouts to make sure that the information was true (you see, he didn’t exactly like or trust Elisha either). But every time the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God he found Elisha’s words to be true, and he was therefore always on guard in those areas....and Ben- hadad’s ambush attempts always failed..
Well it didn’t too long before Ben-hadad, had his fill of this stuff.... He was pretty sure that he had TO HAVE a leak somewhere in his staff (it had to be an inside job), one of his officers must be guilty of treason... There was no way that Joram could have been that lucky...
So he calls all of his men into his chambers, and with glowing eyes and a fiery voice, He demanded, "I WANT TO KNOW RIGHT KNOW -- WHICH OF YOU IS ON THE SIDE OF THE KING OF ISRAEL...WHO IS GUILTY OF TREASON!"
All the men looked at each other, afraid to speak and finally one broke the silence and said, "NONE OF US MY LORD THE KING, IT’S NOT US, IT’S THE PROPHET ELISHA WHO IS IN ISRAEL, HE KNOWS ALL THE WORDS THAT THE KING SPEAKS IN THESE CHAMBERS, AND TELLS THEM TO THE KING OF ISRAEL..."
Now, Whether this officer knew for certain this to be true, or just made a lucky guess in a difficult time we do not know.... But what we do know is, that the Arameans where well aware of Elisha’s power, that had witnessed it first hand when the General of the Aramean Army (Naaman) was healed by Elisha of leprosy.
This explanation seemed to satisfy the enraged King who replied, "GO, FIND OUT WHERE HE IS, SO I CAN CAPTURE HIM...."
And it wasn’t long before the report came back that Elisha was in Dothan, a small village about 12 miles north of Samaria, the capital city of the north.
Ben-hadad wanting to make sure Elisha didn’t slip away dispatched a strong force of men under the cover of darkness (which is when evil likes to do it’s work). And before the sun rose the entire city of Dothan was surrounded.
What do you think is going to happen?
Let’s found out.
Early that morning Elisha’s servant (remember he had been on the job just a short time) woke up and went outside with a coffee cup in his hand, wiping the sleep out of his eyes to get the early morning edition of The Dothan Journal.....The Dothan Eagles were on a 10 game winning streak...
And as he bent down to pick up the paper, his eyes caught sight of an army of horses and chariots surrounding the city.
The servant dropped his cup ran and met Elisha who had also stepped outside, and with a voice of desperation cried; "OH, MY LORD WHAT SHALL WE DO?"
And the prophet with a bold calmness said to his trembling servant who was gripped with fear, "DON’T BE AFRAID...THOSE ARE WITH US ARE MORE THAN THOSE WHO ARE WITH THEM.."
And then the prophet of God lifted up his hands to the Lord and prayed, "OH LORD, OPEN HIS EYES SO HE MAY SEE....."
And the Lord did open up the servant eyes . And when the servant looked up, this time - in addition to the Aramean army he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire, an army of God that had come to protect Elisha...
Can you imagine that scene, can you imagine the servants reaction?
Question; Have you, ever felt like Elisha servant? -- one morning you woke up and went outside and found that your city was surrounded... that the enemy had come during the night, and now you are trapped, afraid and you don’t know what to do...
Sometimes, the enemy that surrounds us is a health problem of our own or of a loved one; sometimes it is a financial problem or a relational problem.... Other times it is the fear of rejection or failure...
But whoever or whatever it is, the bottom line is this; fear has gripped you, and you are paralyzed, trembling unable to move....and your joy is gone.
Question; What do you do, when problems surround you and there seems to be no way of escape? and nowhere to turn....
You need to do, what Elisha’s servant did, you need to open our eyes... you need to see the horses and chariots of the Almighty God, an army of fire sent to protect you...a mighty force that is already with you.....
But how do we open our eyes? -- we need to pray.... Pray that God will help us see through our problems, see through our trials, see through our difficulties, and see Him!!
That is exactly what James is talking about in the first chapter of his letter;
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develop perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault an dit will be given to him. BUT when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
Do problems in life toss you around? do they blow you here and there? are you unstable when the flood waters of this life begin to rise? Do you find it hard to consider difficult times as a reason for rejoicing?
If you answered yes to any of those questions -- it tells me 2 things about you; one you are normal and two you are honest... We all at times are unstable in the midst of difficulty... BUT God wants His people to know that they do not have to be afraid... So what’s the answer? How can we keep our boat stable when the waters of life rage? James says, "BROTHERS IF YOU WANT TO SEE TRIALS AS A CAUSE FOR REJOICING -- IF YOU NEED WISDOM TO STABLE YOUR SHIP -- ASK GOD, YOU NEED TO PRAY BELIEVING, AND GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE WISDOM TO STAND UP UNDER TRIALS AND TO CONSIDER YOUR DIFFICULTIES PURE JOY...
And if you ever find yourself in a situation that seem to be too strong, to pray yourself (you just can’t break through on your own), do what Elisha’s servant did go to a brother or sister who is already standing firm, a brother whose eyes, already see God, and ask him to pray for you....
And God will open our eyes...
And let me tell you what will happen when God opens our eyes...
WE WILL SEE THE TRUE NATURE OF THE BATTLE
a’s servant thought the battle was 2 against 1,000 armed men.... Just him and Elisha, against all those men, swords, horses and chariots....
But he was wrong wasn’t he? -- It wasn’t just him and Elisha -- no it was him, Elisha and the armies of the Almighty God against the forces of the enemy! (And anytime we are standing next to God we are the majority...)
You see, when we, like Elisha’s servant, open our eyes we will see the true nature of the conflict. When fear grips us and steals our joy and immobilizes our service, when we feel outgunned and out numbered -- IF we would only open our eyes we would see that the struggle is not as Paul says, "against flesh and blood -- but against principalities and powers who at work in this world to hurt, to destroy, to grip us with fear....and to steal our joy.
WHEN OUR EYES ARE OPENED WE WILL SEE THE NATURE OF THE BATTLE, AND WE WILL SEE THAT WE ARE NOT ALONE -- IT IS NOT US AGAINST THEM, BUT RATHER GOD AND US.
AND WHEN WE OPEN OUR EYES WE WILL ALSO
EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE OF GOD
When we open our eyes, we see the Lord... And We are reminded that he is there, as he promised, "AND SURELY I AM WITH YOU EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE..."
There is something about being in the presence of someone who is stronger than we are, that soothes our fear and melts our terror.
A child’s fears after a terrible dream go away, when he is in his parents room...
A boy confidently walks by the bullies who had beat him up, because his older brother now walks beside him.
The wife who has had a terrible day when the whole world seems to be against her, rests in the arms of her husband.
The shepherd boy with just a sling, faces a 10 foot giant that has an entire nation shaking in their boots, because he knows the Almighty God is with Him....
Remember I said earlier that the phrase "Don’t be afraid" appears 88 times in the bible -- mostly spoken by God and by Jesus (that is significant) -- And it is also significant to note, that nearly every time after saying, "Don’t be afraid," God then reassured the people of His presence:
WHEN ISAAC WAS AFRAID, THE LORD APPEARED TO HIM AND SAID, "I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM. DO NOT BE AFRAID I AM WITH YOU..." -- GEN 26:24
WHEN THE PROPHET JEREMIAH WAS AFRAID OF THE KING OF BABYLON GOD SAID TO HIM, DO NOT BE AFRAID OF HIM FOR I AM WITH YOU..." -- JER 42:11
IN HIS FAREWELL SPEECH TO THE PEOPLE MOSES TOLD THE PEOPLE AS THEY WERE ABOUT TO ENTER THE PROMISE, "DO NOT BE AFRAID BECAUSE THE LORD YOUR GOD GOES WITH YOU..."
When we, open our eyes, we will experience God’s presence; and when we feel His touch, hear His voice -- when we know He is there (He is!!) -- Like the child, the little brother, the wife and like the shepherd boy, we will find our fears quickly subsiding as we rest in the presence of our Lord, one who is stronger than we.
WHEN WE OPEN OUR EYES WE SEE THE NATURE OF THE STRUGGLE, WE EXPERIENCE THE Presence OF THE LORD AND
WE ARE REMINDED OF GOD’S PAST VICTORIES
When we have our eyes shut during hard times, we find it DIFFICULT to see the many victories God has already brought us through..
In Deuteronomy chapter 7 Moses is talking to the people about entering the promise land and he anticipates the feelings of fear they will have, and he says;
You may say to yourselves, "These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out." But do not be afraid of them, remember well what the lord your God did Pharaoh and to all of Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the miraculous signs & wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the people you now fear....Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great & awesome God.
Moses tells the people, "to remember well!" (Put the tape back in the VCR and push rewind - look at all I did for you -- "I delivered you from a 430 year bondage and I swept the Mighty Egyptian Nation away, as easily as a person sweeps the floor....I brought a mighty empire to her knees for you."
We, need to remember well, what God has done in our past, we need to replay the tape of our life and see all that he has done... Look how through Christ he brought the prince of this word to his bony knees....
Listen if we don’t remember the past THEN when difficulties come we will say,
"THIS PROBLEM IS TO BIG FOR ME? I CAN NEVER MAKE IT THROUGH THIS? IT IS JUST TOO MUCH? HOW CAN I DRIVE THESE PROBLEMS OUT?...."
We can’t drive them out, Israel couldn’t, you can’t I can’t BUT God can! And he has, I can’t tell you how many times God has come to my rescue... AND I don’t know how many more times God has to bring me through the storm before I trust Him fully, immediately, without having to go through any fear at all....
The good news is we don’t have to go through the storms of this life alone God wants to go with us... As a matter of Fact God the Son died so that he could go through the storms with us...
And It is His power that will deliver us..... If God is for us then who can be against us? No one -- No Situation!!
Elisha told his servant -- "DON’T BE AFRAID" -- BECAUSE, THOSE WHO ARE WITH US ARE GREATER THAN THOSE WHO ARE WITH THEM..."
LISTEN; GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR ENEMIES!
We see King Hezekiah saying essentially the same thing over 100 years later as he tells the commanders of his armies to not be afraid of the Assyrians who were approaching Jerusalem,
"BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. DO NOT BE AFRAID OR DISCOURAGED BECAUSE OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA AND THE VAST ARMY WITH HIM, FOR THERE IS A GREATER POWER WITH US THEN WITH HIM...." -- 2 CH 32:7
And the apostle John 700 years later said much the same thing in I John 4:4 when he said, "GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU, THEN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD...." {REPEAT}
DO YOU BELIEVE THIS! IT’S TRUE!!
IF WE HAVE JESUS WE DO NOT NEED TO FEAR THOSE WHO SURROUND OUR CITY. We can rest in God’s power and BE victorious....
Does this mean that with God, we will defeat every trial and we will , overcome every problem.... Yes it does!!!
(Now stay with me) That is, if we understand the true nature of the struggle -- and what fear and our enemies are really after, they are after our souls and our relationship with God....
Jesus said in LUKE 12:4-7; "don’t be afraid of those who kill the body and after that do no more. BUT I will show you who to fear; FEAR HIM who, after the killing of the body, has the power to throw you into hell...
If we fear God, we don’t have to fear anything else in the world..
We don’t have to fear, people & things that can only hurt us in this life..
No one, can take away who we are in Christ
No one, can separate us from the love of God that is IN Christ Jesus!
And no one, can keep us from spending eternity in His Glorious presence...
Are you afraid? What are you afraid of?
GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO KNOW, HE WANTS YOU TO KNOW -- THAT WE DO NOT NEED TO BE AFRAID AS LONG AS HE IS WITH US; AND HE IS WITH US AS LONG AS WE ARE WITH HIM.....
And in case you are wondering....what happen with Elisha and Black Bart I’ll tell you.
When the Aramean army came toward Elisha (the army that struck fear in Elisha’s servant) The Lord stuck them with blindness,, he closed their eyes...
And Elisha then met them and said, " I’ll led you to the man you are looking for" (WHAT A TRICKY GUY) -- and Elisha led them right into the city of Samaria.
And Once inside the city, the Lord restored their sight.... They freaked out... The King Of Israel asked Elisha can I kill them -- Elisha said no, let’s give them a feast -- and after they finished eating and drinking they went back home to their King -- and the Armeans stopped raiding the land of Israel... Pretty cool, huh?
And oh yeah Black Bart -- It turns out he wasn’t anything to be afraid of either. When the hood came off, there was nothing to fear. You see when the authorities finally tracked him down -- they didn’t find a blood thirsty bandit from death Valley; they found a mild mannered druggist from Decatur Illinois. The man the papers pictured as storming the mountains on horseback, was in reality so afraid of horses he rode to and from his robberies in a buggy. He was Charles E, Boles -- the bandit who never fired a shot, because he never loaded his gun....
DO YOU HAVE ANY FALSE HOODS OF FEAR IN YOUR LIFE?
DO YOU HAVE AN ENEMY OF FEAR SURROUNDING THE CITY OF YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW.
GOD SAYS DON’T BE AFRAID OF THEM -- TAKE OFF THEIR HOODS (AND SEE THEY ARE NOTHING TO FEAR)
OPEN YOUR EYES (AND SEE THE HORSES AND CHARIOTS OF GOD), DON’T BE AFRAID BECAUSE HE WHO IS WITH US, IS GREATER THEN HE WHO IS WITH THEM... GOD DOESN’T WANT HIS CHILDREN TO AFRAID...
HELEN LEMMEL IN HER HYMN CAPTURED WHAT WE NEED TO DO when fear come riding in;
O SOUL ARE YOU WEARY AND TROUBLED, NO LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS YOU SEE? THERE’S LIGHT FOR A LOOK AT THE SAVIOR, AND LIFE MORE ABUNDANT AND FREE!
THROUGH DEATH INTO LIFE EVER LASTING, HE PASSED, AND WE FOLLOW HIM THERE; OVER US SIN NO MORE HATH DOMINION, FOR MORE THAN CONQUERORS WE ARE!
HIS WORD SHALL NOT FAIL YOU HE PROMISED; BELIEVE HIM AND ALL WILL BE WELL; THEN GO TO A WORLD THAT IS DYING; HIS PERFECT SALVATION TO TELL!
TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS, LOOK FULL IN HIS WONDERFUL FACE; AND THE THINGS OF LIFE WILL GROW STRANGELY DIM IN THE LIGHT OF HIS GLORY AND GRACE.
