Fearful

If you don't know what fear is, you're not a normal human being. The world is reeling with it today. TIME said that Saddam Hussein had enough biological and chemical weapons material in stock to kill everyone on this planet. And everyone knows he nurses a whopper of a revenge against the United States for rubbing his nose in the dirt in the Gulf War. You can be sure that US was wondering what to do. And there are more fears: terrorists in Pakistan, etc. What Luke says (21:25, 26) is so true right now: "Upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth." You can't escape this anxiety unless you live on the planet Mars. But you can escape the fear, by observing the sabbath. The sabbath day is a day free from fear. It's a day of heaven, come down to earth. God's presence is in the sabbath day. He Himself set it apart, sanctified it, blessed it. In the sabbath you draw nearer sabbath after sabbath, to Him. Because His presence is in the sabbath, your heart becomes filled with peace and the fear is expelled. You may say, "Oh, that's only for one day; soon as the sun goes down at the end of the sabbath, here comes all the fear again as we read, listen, or view the daily news!" No, that's not true; the peace of the sabbath calms you and remains with you by faith as you go through the new week, on, until the next sabbath. The commandment says, "Remember the sabbath day . . ." You start remembering the next sabbath as soon as the sun goes down sabbath evening. And because of the joy of sabbath-keeping you can sing, "Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled. There is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the city of God" (Ps 46:3-5).

Have you been blessed?