Isaiah 41:13 - 20
For I am the LORD your God
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.
Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,
little Israel, do not fear,
for I myself will help you,” declares the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
“See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,
new and sharp, with many teeth.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them,
and reduce the hills to chaff.
You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,
and a gale will blow them away.
But you will rejoice in the LORD
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
“The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the LORD will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
In the Bible, messengers of God usually introduce change with the words, "Fear not" or, "Don't be afraid." They arrive with the understanding that humans resist change. In fact, humans are so seduced by the familiar and the comfortable that they are likely to stay in a dangerous, unhealthy situation that is known rather than move into something life-giving that is unknown.
"Fear not" is a threshold phrase. Thresholds are transitions from one room to another, from an old framework to a new framework. Thresholds signal change and movement. As a human person, if you are open to growth, maturity and fullness of life, you will hear, "Do not be afraid" often in your life.
During Advent we ramble eloquently about the coming of Christ. We repeat the biblical birth narratives. We imagine the difference his light makes in a dark world. We sing the birth songs and Christmas carols passed down to us through the centuries. We become misty-eyed romantics for a few weeks before Christmas.
Really though, the birth of Christ signifies the upset of the way we live life on our own terms. God-in-the-flesh, if taken seriously, suggests that life in the world must be lived differently, that a radical reordering of mind and heart is necessary to fully participate in a meaningful life. The birth of Christ turns our world on its ear. Jesus' coming indicates that the prestige of the wealthy and the power of the achievers are illusions that do not represent the kingdom of God.
There is plenty of reason to be told, "Fear not." Fear is the human response that leads to holding onto life as it is and resists change.
Spiritual growth is not always safe. It means crossing thresholds, greeting change, opening ourselves to that which we may be scared to fully embrace. Sure, there is plenty to fear.
In one of the best exchanges in the C. S. Lewis classic, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are trying to describe Aslan, the Christ-figure, to the human children.
The children ask, "Is he safe?"
"No, he's not safe!" the beavers answer. "He's the King of Beasts, I tell you. But he's good."
That tends to be how it goes with God.
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