Moving Past Fear

Moving Past Fear
Words of Faith 10-10-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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1 Samuel 16:1
[1] The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king."
[2] But Samuel said, "How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me." The Lord said, "Take a heifer with you and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' [3] Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate."
 
Samuel was afraid. I suppose that he had reason to be. Saul was growing increasingly paranoid after the Lord had rejected him as king. This leadership change was coming, but such changes are not always pretty. It was very possible that Saul could try to kill him if he anointed another to be king.
But the Lord told Samuel to go to the town of Bethlehem. There, he would find one of the sons of Jesse, who would be anointed to become the next ruler of Israel. Jesse of the tribe of Judah and his hometown, Bethlehem in Judah, would forever become associated with the Messiah. This anointing pointed prominently toward our Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah.
Remember the words of Isaiah? A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord-- and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears (11:1-3). In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious (11:10).
       Or what about the words of the prophet Micah? "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times" (5:2).
This was not some tiny political maneuver in a small ancient nation. This was a BIG plan-- a huge God-shaped plan. Samuel was to bring oil for the anointing of this lineage of the king of Israel. The Hebrew word for "anoint" is mawshakh, from which we get the word Messiah. Samuel was to anoint the ancestor of the Messiah-- the Anointed One of God. The lineage of this earthly king would lead to the coming of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Of course, Samuel was afraid. Fear is normal, but he had to get past it. The fear was probably not as much of dying as it was of not accomplishing the vital task of anointing the new king of Israel.
It is interesting that the Lord really never addressed this fear. In several places in the Bible, the Lord deals with fear simply with the words "Fear not." Here, that was assumed. The Lord expected Samuel to fear not-- and told him the manner in which he was to approach Jesse. This was a call forward. It was a walk of faith rather than fear.
      We have already seen that leaving the past behind involves grief. There is also fear… fear of the future. The Lord's response is the same today… He calls us forward. When we fear the future, the Lord calls us to walk by faith.
      Have you been stuck in grief concerning the past? The Lord says-- How long are you going to stay stuck? He calls you forward. And have you been stuck in fear concerning the future? He calls you to walk by faith, not by fear. He calls you forward. The anointing is ahead of you. The Anointed One will lead you.
 
      Father God set me free from the grief of the past. Set me free from the fear of the future. I am ready to hear, trust, and obey. Lead me into the anointing You have for me. May I walk with the Anointed One. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.