July 3

Jul 3 - Today from Proverbs 3 we look at verses 25 & 26
"Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared."

The premise of the conclusions of these two particular verses is found earlier in verse 21, stating "Preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight." We do well to remember that most often, with a promise there is a premise. Before 'claiming a promise', a true disciple will focus on the premise. If not, the disciple has no ground to stand on. We are to have faith in God, not in faith.
I share this because if we desire to live without fear of sudden disaster, we need to know how to live without fear of sudden disaster. I can assure you that the promise of this verse is not that your life will be void of sudden disaster. There is no such promise, even for the most righteous. By His own proclamation God declared Job to be a righteous man, yet Job experienced more sudden disaster than most. A few of Job's friends were quite convinced that it may even have been 'ruin that overtakes the wicked'. But from the vantage point of looking behind the scenes, we know it wasn't. Job was indeed a righteous man.
Fear is a powerful force. It can consume the mind and keep a person enslaved. Fear comes from focusing on circumstances, from walking in the weakness of our own limitations. We even see reference to a 'spirit of fear' in 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV). This does not infer that a person is possessed by an evil spirit, but rather, the person is oppressed by his own spirit. When we were 'born again', our confidence was not in our ability or our strength, but in the power of God through Jesus Christ to bring us from death to life. We are to hold that same confidence throughout our life, regardless of circumstances. Will there be sudden disasters in life? In all probability, yes. Can we avoid them by avoiding all circumstances that may precipitate disaster. No, impossible. Then how can we avoid them? We can't. Then how can we live without a spirit of fear? By preserving sound judgment and discernment. These are based on the knowledge of God. Not knowledge about God, but knowledge of God. Knowledge about God is knowledge relating to God. Knowledge of God is knowledge coming from God. There is only one way to grow in the knowledge of God, and that is by an abiding relationship with God. That is how one preserves sound judgment and discernment.
When one is focused on things above, working on and walking in relationship with God, then one does not fear sudden disaster or the ruin that overtakes the wicked. They have a much better perspective of life. Righteous Job grew in his understanding through trial. In Job 3:25 he says, "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me." For the next thirty-some chapters we see Job's friends attempting to heap knowledge about God upon Job. Then in chapters 38-41 Job moved from knowledge about God to knowledge of God. In chapter 42 Job has grown to proper perspective and all of his trials paled in the light of God's truth. He says to the Lord, "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. . . My ears had heard of you (knowledge about God), but now my eyes have seen you (knowledge of God). Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (vs. 2, 5 & 6). Job suffered sudden disaster, but his foot was never snared. Satan lost. Not because of Job's strength, but because of Job's discovery of God's strength. That same strength is ours on a daily basis.
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Cor. 4:18