By Wendy Wood
“The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?” Psalm 118:6
God is faithful to give us reasons and arguments for why He gives us a command. For example, before giving the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, God reminds the Israelites “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”. God’s reason for obedience to the commandments was that He was a personal God who loved them and had rescued them out of slavery. Obedience is rooted in knowing the greatness of God. We see God giving reasons again in Matthew 6 when He commands us to “Do not be anxious”. His reasons? Look at how God takes care of birds and flowers and provides for every need of every creature. Consider how detail oriented God is with each bloom of lily and providing berries and seeds for birds. The grass is beautifully clothed with God’s different shades of green and brown. Think about God’s ways with even the little creatures and how much more people, made in God’s image, are cared for. When God gives us a command, obedience is rooted in His very nature. Because God is personal, great, sovereign, caring, a provider, and always present, we can and should trust Him to live as He calls us to live.
“I will not fear.”
Reason #1. “The Lord is on my side.”
When I picture “sides” I picture a tug-of-war or an athletic game where there are teams involved. As you go out to compete in a sport or game, one team sizes up the other to see how they compare. If you are about to do a tug-of-war over a pit of muddy water, you are gauging your team’s size and strength against the other team. If you are playing a basketball game you are comparing height, build, and speed against the other team to see how your team measures up. “The Lord is on my side” is the game winning statement. No matter who is on the other team, having the Lord on your team, is a guaranteed winning outcome every time. No one can outmatch or outplay or out strategize God. The completed work of Christ on the cross is the victory that every believer has that guarantees the future. Romans 8:30 promises that those who are foreknown are called, and justified, and sanctified, and glorified. The outcome of victory has already happened and will be fully realized in the future. ‘The Lord is on my side’ means that my soul is secure and the outcome has already been decided.
“I will not fear.”
Reason #2 “The Lord is on my side.”
“The Lord is on my side” also means that God is “for us” (Romans 8:31). Again I picture sports as a metaphor for God being “for us”. As a mom of soccer players, I was on the sidelines of soccer fields every weekend for years watching my boys play the game. I couldn’t play ‘for them’, but both of my boys knew I was “for them” by my actions. I drove them to every practice. I arrived 45 minutes before each game so they could warm up and receive coaching tips for the day. I was on the sideline whether is was 28* at the end of November or 95* in the middle of August. I watched every play and cheered on not only my own son, but their entire teams. As a sinful, earthly parent, I was able to show my boys that I was “for them” in their sport. By being there, by spending time with them, by getting to know their strengths and weaknesses on the field, bringing snacks and cheering them on, I showed my support. God, our perfectly holy heavenly Father is so much more “for us” than we could ever imagine. Do you picture God “for you”? Do you see God’s heart “for you” as you engage in daily activities. When life is comfortable and things are going smoothly do you realize God is “for you”? When you are struggling with temptation and have given in again, do you consider that God is “for you”? When you are sad and lonely, do you look to the God who is “for you”? “The Lord is on my side; I will not be afraid” is a blessed promise that we have a Sovereign, Holy, Merciful, Loving, Good God who is “for us”. We have absolutely nothing to fear because of who God is.
“I will not fear.”
Reason #3 “What can man do to me?”
When we have considered who God is, how he is on our side, and for us, we realized that there is absolutely nothing man can do to us that affects our security and hope in Christ. Man may be able to inflict short term difficulties and trials in our lives. Man may be able to temporarily cause harm and, in some cases, could even end our earthly life. But for those who are in Christ, we are secure and our hope in spending eternity in the presence of God is absolutely guaranteed by the resurrection of Christ. Matthew 10:28 tells us, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” If we are covered in the righteousness and holiness of Christ, our souls are secure and we need not fear. When we are tempted to anger or self-preservation, we can say with Joseph, “what man intends for evil, God intends for good” (Genesis 50:20 author’s paraphrase). Even though Joseph’s brothers intended harm by throwing Joseph into a pit and selling him as a slave to a caravan headed to Egypt, Joseph could trust that God was sovereign and in complete control of his every moment. Joseph could say “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” knowing that God’s purpose and will are always accomplished and that God is good and uses even difficult circumstances for His children’s good. The promise of Romans 8:28-29 is that “all things” will work for good by conforming believers to the image of Christ.
“I will not fear” is a command that we can obey because of WHO God is. Fear comes from looking at our circumstances and not considering the sovereignty, goodness, wisdom, mercy, omnipresence, and love of God. When we know and trust that God is on our side and that God is sovereign over man and anything that can be done to us, we can say with the Psalmist, “I will not fear”.