In life we can often fear things, but maybe our biggest fear when we have acknowledged that there is in fact a God, is that He is NOT in a good mood, and especially that He may not be in a good mood with us personally.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus said what He did when He stated, “Fear not, little flock, “For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
What fear is Jesus trying to eliminate here?
He is trying to eliminate the fear that God is not the kind of God who really wants to be good to his children. This fear can rise up in our hearts causing us to feel that God does not want to be gracious to us, that He does not want to be generous and helpful to us. We think of God as one who is basically annoyed, angry and intent on judging us all the time.
Sometimes even if we believe in our heads that God is good, we may feel in our hearts that the wisest thing we can do is stay out of His way, and maybe, if we keep the rules okay, we’ll sneak by him when he is in one of his good moods.
The problem with this thinking and fear is that we’ll never really know where we stand with, or whether we can depend upon God. That belief may have come from our own experiences with our earthly fathers, and not knowing what we were ever going to get. It perhaps came from having to avoid their bad moods, or learning to expect their inconsistencies and the likelihood of them hurting and disappointing us.
However if we judge God through the lens of our earthly father’s we may very well always live without the love an assurance our heavenly Father so much wants to give each of us. We may never experience fully the capacity of His love for us, His willingness to answer our prayers, and His help and blessing in the things we pray, hope, and dream for, because in our fear we hold Him at arms length.
But Jesus makes a point of telling us that this is not how our Father God is, or how He feels about us. He says, “Fear not little flock.” In others words, don’t be afraid, God delights to do good things for you, and is busy thinking up all the ways He can bless and love on us personally. It’s His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.
Good pleasure means that God does it gladly. It’s God’s joy, his desire, his want and wish and hope and pleasure and gladness and delight to give the kingdom – all He has, to us His family.
Numbers 6:24-26 says these words,“The LORD bless you, and keep you; The Lord make HIs face shine on you, And be gracious to you: The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.‘…(Numbers 6:24-26)
Today if you happen to wonder whether God is for you, and is helping you with all that you have to do, remember “He is in fact in a good mood, and His shining face is directed right at you. This is as a sign of the favour, esteem, approval and love you have in His sight; and that you indeed have nothing to fear.
“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?”(Romans 8: 31-32)
“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)
Prayer: Lord thank you that you love me and that I don’t have to live in fear of you being in a bad mood. Help me to see where incorrect thinking or feelings about you have affected my life and relationship with you and what I expect. Please heal my heart where I may have been hurt or disappointed by my own earthly parents. In Jesus name Amen.