Fear

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Dog

Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears. Proverbs 26:17 ESV  I love the vividness of this illustration! If you grab a passing dog's ears, it's not going to end well for you. Similarly, if we meddle in quarrels not our own, that's not going to have a good outcome.  I think of many wars that are fought in the Middle East. When Western (or Eastern for that matter!) countries wade in, it just seems to make a messy situation even worse. If two people are fighting and you try and intervene, they may well both turn on you!  I'm reminded of Moses who tried to resolve a dispute. But his murder of an Egyptian had gone before him, and destroyed any credibility he might have wanted as a would be mediator. This proverb doesn't bode well for successive US presidents who seems to take it upon themselves to bring peace to the Middle East, and only end up creating more war.  Having said all that, it is also true that peacemakers are b...
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Power

 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.Exodus 9:16 ESVhttps://bible.com/bible/59/exo.9.16.ESV  Secular historians point to the lack of extra-biblical evidence of Hebrew slavery in Egypt and ensuing exodus. But here in this verse, God describes how this anonymous Pharoah has been immortalised in the annals of the Hebrews, so that God is proclaimed in all the earth. The mighty men of the world might think they can stand against God and win, but resistance is futile!  The more stubborn Pharoah was, the more the Lord was able to display His power. The more insistent Pharoah was of keeping his slaves, the more unreasonable he appeared. It was a battle of wills, and the will of Yahweh prevailed.  In the end, Pharoah will have been broken by the plagues. In the final plague, his own firstborn son was killed, the next in line to the throne of the world superpower. He might have tried to put a brave...
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Love

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (ESV) Cynics question how God loves us. They point out all the wars, famines, plagues and so on in the world and question how God can exist. It could well be questioned how atheists make sense of suffering, because without our Creator, life is meaningless, and therefore who cares about suffering? Thankfully, God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It's not like we can earn God's salvation. It's only by His grace that we can be saved. The implication of this verse is that if we trust in Christ, we no longer become defined by our sinfulness. Instead, the perfect righteousness of Christ is credited to our bankrupt spiritual accounts. We can be blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. The reformers used to describe us as simultaneously sinful and yet justified. Yet a day will come when we will be like Christ, for we will se...
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