Dear Faith Family,
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
(Exodus 20:7)
There is an unnerving aspect to the Third Word. Especially the last part about not getting away with living as if God's primacy and providence are empty ideas. Coupled with the vivid portrayal of the arrived consequences of wrong perceptions (Ex. 20:5), and there is no wonder "fear of the LORD" becomes a prominent promotion from God's people.
Most fears add layers of complexity to our daily labors and relationships. Whether we fear exposure, failure, loss, pain, or disconnection, fear often fosters hesitation, aggression, and anxiousness. Ironically, the humility and respect that God's ultimate primacy in life and ceaseless (even if incalculable) providence engenders, is the essential disposition to cultivate life freed from the entanglements of fear, "with simplicity of heart" (Col. 3:22). In "fearing the Lord," living in amazed awe and submitting wonder, our identity, purpose, and future are not potentials or puzzles but promises. Words spoken, like the first Word, that create and keep life in intimate relation, and which are never spoken in vain:
'I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.'
God’s Decree.
'For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.'
(Isiah 55:8-11)
It is our propensity to get entangled by the complexities of life, all the striving to unlock the puzzle and potentials of roles and relationships, that makes the Fourth Word's rhythm fundamental to living free. Essential to being the persons we are made to be--the women and men, husbands and wives, daughters and sons, employees and parents we are fashioned to be--is a day of delight in the certainty of the Word. A day, as Dylan reminded us a couple weeks ago, to practice the promise of our foundational relations, and renew our awe and wonder so that we might live unbound by over-complication.
In between and in preparation for that necessary day, when your heart is vexed, disquieted by the opportunities and anxieties of today, take a moment to simplify your heart by fearing the LORD. Take a moment to remember His promise from Isaiah (above), that the life He speaks into existence, your life, is a word that "shall accomplish that which [[He] purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which [He] sent it." And here's the key to freedom, that
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.
(Psalm 139:6)
May "The sheer mystery of God's purposes and God's works exhilarate us, causing us to live daily life with gusto" and grace.
Love you, faith family! God bless.