The title for this post comes from Matthew 25:24-25.

Is that your view of God?
Hard to get along with.
Demanding you carry a cross.
Beating you if you step out of line.

The result, rightly so, is fear.

The Bible is a book of DO NOTS, and what is the most frequently mentioned (and by inference the most serious) DO NOT? The one you don't want to hear mentioned, the line you are always crossing - FEAR. Viscous circle, fearful of getting a beating if you step out of line, and being fearful is seen as stepping out of line!

In Romans 9:16-23 Paul raises the question "Why does God still blame us?", "Why did you make me like this?". In the parable I referred to, from Matthew 25, each received according to his ability (v15).

When asked about the most important command Jesus replied with "Love the Lord your God with all YOUR heart, all YOUR soul, all YOUR mind, all YOUR strength" (Mark 12:30), and he goes on "love you neighbour as YOURself".

In the accounts of Jesus feeding the 4000 and 5000, he told his disciples "You give them something to eat" QED - He is a hard man, difficult to get on with! Then he asked "What do you have?"(Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6). He is not asking you for something you don't have, or comparing you with someone else.

We also read Jesus 'already had in mind what he planned to do'. In Romans 9:19-21 we read God made us, he knows what we are like. In Acts 17:26 speaking of the nations Paul says God "marked out their appointed times and seasons".

In Esther 4:14 we read "YOU might have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this". She might have had earlier struggles in her mind when her life was turned upside down with the beauty contest and her promotion to the King's harem(Esther 2)!

I am reminded today that I can quickly think of 4 people (myself included) who in another century, or another country, would not have lived - survived birth, or later events. But God has marked out our appointed times and seasons for such a time as this. He might not give me what I want, when I want it, where I want it, how I want it and I might compare unfavourably with others, but He has given me everything I need for a time such as this so that I can love the Lord my God with all MY heart, all MY soul, all MY mind, all MY strength!

Immediately after writing that I came across Fasting Fear from 'Jungle Jen' featured in Amazon Arising.