Bible Reading Plan | Devotion for the week of May 30, 2021

Weekly reading: Esther 6-10; Psalm 23-24
Passages referenced: Psalm 23; John 16:33

 In case you missed Sarah’s great introduction to the book of the psalms, you can find it here. Psalm 23 falls into the first book of the Jewish hymnal (what we call the book of Psalms). This first section has been called by many Bible scholars the book of personal experience. This means that the psalms of this first section are meant to teach us to worship in the midst of real human experience. As such, many of the psalms in the first 42 chapters are psalms of lamentation (heart-cries of pain and sadness). These lamentations express pain and fear but almost always return to the Truth of who God is in spite of the circumstance. This is worship – returning to God in the midst of painful and scary circumstances.

Most of us, as humans, are really bad at centering our worship on God. We put all kinds of things in His place. We worship people and things that make us feel powerful and, most especially, people and things that make us feel safe. Depending on how one translates the Greek and Hebrew, some variation of the phrase ‘do not be afraid’ appears between 100 and 140 times throughout the Bible. [1] Fear is obviously something that scripture takes very seriously because it is one of the things that leads us most quickly into faith. For me, it’s pretty convicting to look honestly at the places my faith goes when I am afraid. Usually, it is to myself, my resources, and my allies. And on rare occasions, I just decide it’s not something I can fight, and I hide.

David reminds us in Psalm 23 that fear is meant to lead us to God. This psalm is a short and powerful reminder of why we ought to worship God when we are afraid.

For those who are tempted to fear that God is not paying attention to your personal life:
“The Lord is my Shepherd.” (v1)

For those who are tempted to fear that material needs will not be met:
“I shall not want.” (v1)

For those who are tempted to fear that there is not enough energy to finish the day:
“He restores my soul.” (v3)

For those who are tempted to fear that God has abandoned you to human opponents:
“He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” (v5)

For those who are tempted to fear that there is no hope left in life:
“Surely goodness and covenant love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (v6)

Fear is a real part of the human experience. It is something we all face to varying degrees at different times in our lives. David’s hymn reminds us to worship God, who is greater than all of our fears. Jesus reminded His disciples of this very thing when He told them, “In this world you will have tribulation. But take courage! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Friends, we can worship God in the face of every one of our fears because He provides. His promise is that there will be tribulation (pain, fear, suffering), but we worship with courage because He has already triumphed.

A note on the end of Esther this week: Esther chose to act boldly and rely on God for the outcome. Her courage has echoed down through millennia. Last week we saw her fear; this week, we get to see God use her as a tool for the salvation of His people because she was faithful and courageous in spite of her fear. Based on the timeline, it is possible that she was being encouraged by this same psalm 2500 years ago. Indeed, the Lord literally prepared a table in the presence of her enemy.

God bless you all as you explore God’s Word this week. – Zach Tingle

• Do you have questions about this week’s Bible reading? We’d love to help! Rather than relying on the first thing you find on the internet, email us at biblequestions@warsaw.cc. We are more than happy to answer that nagging question you have, provide you with some clarity, or point you in the right direction for further study.

[1] A search using Accordance Bible Software for the 17 Hebrew words for fear and the 4 Greek words with each of their negations yields 133 results with anywhere between the numbers in the range above being translated as ‘fear not’ or ‘do not be afraid’ depending on translation.