In the Face of Insecurity-Stand.

Insecurity is defined by Webster as a state or feeling of anxiety, fear, or self-doubt, lack of dependability or certainty, or lack of safety or protection. While there can be physical circumstances swirling around us in true tornado fashion reinforcing those emotions of insecurity, our response to our situation is rooted in past experiences, wounds, beliefs, and unbeliefs. This is why one individual can face job loss shrug it off and know that something else must be around the corner, while another is paralyzed with fear and can't seem to maintain mental clarity to even create a resume, follow up on a job lead, or fill out an application. We've all dealt with insecurity at some point in our lives. And if you have given it any attention, you too have realized that insecurity is a breeding ground for disaster if we give ourselves over to it and remain there. Our defenses rise up through our internal fight or flight mechanisms, our ability to reason diminishes and decisions get made hastily. We become quick to speak, slow to listen and quick to make sometimes irrational decisions that we later regret.

Exodus 1:6 reads, " Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them." This verse paints a picture of health, wealth, and life abundant. God's people are thriving because they are His chosen. Simply because they are His chosen doesn't mean that others would willingly regard that as honorable, special, or reason to celebrate. What becomes apparent in the verses to come is that those very gifts of God including His favor and provision actually invoke rejection and insecurity in the most devious of forms. As Verse 8 demonstrates, "Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 'Look,' he said to his people, ' the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."

Pharaoh has taken their God-given success, twisted it, and is using it to undermine God's chosen people by presumptuously forecasting wars and how God's people would respond. All the while fanning the flame of his own insecurity. It is the absolute work of the enemy to bring about a spirit of death and division where life and abundance is being propagated . He does so through vain imagination as he whispers deception through "what if" scenarios. By not taking his thoughts captive making them obedient to Christ, seeking the Lord's will, provision, and protection for himself, Pharaoh begins to barricade himself in with the bondages of sin. Psalm 83:3, "With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish." He offers himself as a tool in the hand of the enemy and proceeds against the work of the Lord, verse 11, "So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor...," But God! "...But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so Pharaoh came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly." I can't help but think about 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 that states, “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” Christ in us breathes life to fellow believers who are secure in Christ but is received as a curse of death to those are are not secure in Christ, insecure. In other words... John 3:17-18, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son." Somewhere in the mess of insecurity lies condemnation. It has poured itself out upon us either because of our own decisions to reject Christ by our actions or someone else's infliction of sin upon us. It doesn't have to be this way. Jesus is our way out of this madness.

Insecurity spreads like wildfire... the oppression of the Israelites started with Pharaoh's own deceptive heart but by verse 12 we read that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites, to be weary, disgusted, anxious with them. Pharaoh gave the orders from an impure deceptive heart. Obeying those orders brought about a deceptive impure heart in the Egyptian people and they worked them "ruthlessly."

But God! They continue to thrive even in the midst of oppression increasing Pharaohs' nervous tensions. Death, he reasoned would be the answer. It is the way it goes with sin. It never has its fill until when full grown it has birthed death and that was Pharaoh's full intention as he ordered the midwives to kill the babies that were boys on the birthing stool. Same king. Same oppressive demands. Different response.

Verse 17 "The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live." My everything wants to jump up and down and high five my sisters for bolding and courageously standing for what was good and right and holy and pure and LIFE giving. They did not cave to the same insecurities that Pharaoh and his people bowed to but they bowed to our God who would protect them, provide for them, and, even if He didn't, they would not reject Him to serve a coward king set on placating his deceptive insecure heart. They were secure in their God. They did not place their security in what if's, in man, or what they had previously witnessed, but in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob that held them and every precious baby boy in the palm of his hand.

Friend, when insecurities rear their head in your heart or the hearts of your adversaries, trust Jesus! He alone has a way of allowing us to thrive even in the midst of oppression that is bred from a heart contrary to a surrendered life in Christ. Lay every one of those real concerns and fabricated thoughts of what might come at the feet of the cross and pick up His burden that is light and easy by simple trust and obedience. Secondly, if you are in this place ask the Lord what is behind the fear, the insecurity, the propensity to lash out and oppress. We were not created to live as Pharoah but as Christ. There is healing and Truth that can set you free from that place. Ask Jesus to show you where this is ultimately coming from. When He shows you agree with Him and ask Him to speak Truth to that place. Put your trust in Him.

"He has not given you a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind." Yield to that. Cling to that.

If you are as the Israelites were, know that you can thrive and see the hand of God in it. Ask Him to send you a Shiprah and a Puah that can stand with you for life and help you navigate the hand of the oppressor. Fear God and know that He is with you and that "...no weapon formed against you shall prevail, And you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord."

Praise you Jesus that you hem us in! You are indeed our front guard and our rear guard! You move what seems immovable! You are the possible in the face of the impossible! Where there is unbelief, help us in it. May we cling to YOU- our only hope. Steady our feet, steady our gait, and help us to fix our eyes on you and you alone that we may stand and when we tire of standing that we would stand firmly even more. For there is none other worthy of our praise and our allegiance!

---

Worship with me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ggKHAK_xk "Believe for it ", Cici Winans