Do not be afraid of terrorism! 

by Darryl Manning            10/28/01

 

Jesus commanded us not to be afraid of those who kill the body. We are instructed to only fear God.

Luke 12: ⁴“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. ⁵But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!

St. Paul spoke about a spirit of fear and contrasted that with a sound mind. A person who operates in fear does many things that cause even more danger to themselves and others. Operating with a sound mind often leads to the saving of many lives.

2 Tim. 1: ⁷For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

We in Oklahoma have undergone a terrorist attack and understand what “ground zero” is all about. However, we did not experience ongoing attacks such as are happening in Washington, D.C. and New York City. I am sure the people that are closer to these ongoing attacks have to deal with fear more than we here in the heartland. However, we need to prepare ourselves to do battle with fear so that we are able to be ready for swift, decisive, and calculated action if the attacks come upon our city again.

In the 2 Chronicles 20, there is a story about a good king, Jehoshaphat, who had to deal with fear. His actions give us a pattern that we can use to defeat fear and obtain victory through faith in God.

¹It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites,^£ came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ²Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from ^£Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). ³And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

King Jehoshaphat knew what do with fear. He sought the Lord asking for help. We do not need to hide our fears. We must admit them and then take them to God. Many times we try to put on a facade of courage to impress others. That facade will be tested and found wanting. True courage is what we need and that only comes from the Lord.

⁵Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, ⁶and said: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? ⁷Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? ⁸And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ⁹‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them—¹¹here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹³Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD.

King Jehoshaphat admits his nations lack of power against their enemy. He admits to God that they do not know what to do. He reminds God of His power and might and ends by saying “our eyes are upon You.”

If  you analyze what the King did you can apply this to any fear that you have. Fear is based upon lack of power. As people of God, once we admit we do not have the power to conquer what has come into our lives we have an option of calling upon our God who does have the power. Once we call upon Him, we turn our eyes upon Him and wait.

¹⁴Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

 

Now God responds by giving a prophecy to King Jehoshaphat and his people. God commands them to not fear or be dismayed. These words are given twice in the prophecy. From Genesis to Revelation God speaks over and over to His people not to fear, not to worry, not to be anxious, not to be dismayed, etc., etc. Fear gives power to the enemy. Faith gives power to God and he wants to fight for us.

In our story, God says the battle is His; That they are to go to meet the enemy but they will not need to fight; That they just need to get to a proper vantage point where they can see the “salvation of the Lord.”

            When it comes to terrorism, we have no power. We must have God’s help. The battle must be the Lords. He alone is able to turn aside the enemy and give us directions that will bring about victory. We must call upon our God and listen for His instructions.

¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. ¹⁹Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high.

²⁰So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” ²¹And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the LORD,For His mercy endures forever.”

King Jehoshaphat believed the prophet and God’s instruction. He instructed the people to believe the prophet and then gave instructions based upon his faith in God’s word to him. He put singers in front of the army to lead them out to the appointed vantage point to see God fight the battle. He did not have a back-up plan in case God did not come through. He showed his faith with an action.

²²Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

²⁵When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the ^£dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. ²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the LORD; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of ^£Berachah until this day. ²⁷Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the LORD. ²⁹And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

Notice God began to fight the battle when the singers began to sing and praise the Lord. We can take a lesson from this. What shall we do in the face of terrorism? Let us sing and praise our mighty God knowing that He and He alone can take care of us.

There was an unexpected result from the war: Loot. It took the people three days to pick up the gold, silver, precious stones, etc. When we let God be our God and let Him do our battles we will get more than we expect. Not only will the enemy be defeated but also there will be an abundance of wealth given into our hand.

As for myself, I plan to sing praises to my God and lift Him up above any terror. Let all of us who are ministers encourage our people to raise the level of our worship to God. There is no place for fear in the people of God. AMEN.