So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

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Absolutely no fear.  Absolutely with His people.  Absolutely no dismay.  Absolutely no other God.  There is no qualification on His strengthening or help.  No caveats to His upholding our righteous cause. 

Lord God, when our confidence is shaken; when there is fear of the unknown all around us; when the waves keep crashing and the wind keeps blowing; and when the ground feels unsettled beneath our feet as if we are sinking deep into the mire, keep reminding us of the absolute nature of You. 

You are God, there is no other (Isaiah 45:18). 

You are love, unconditional and pure (1 John 4:16). 

You are our peace (Ephesians 2:14). 

Our shalom, our rest and our refuge (Psalm 91:1-16). 

You are our strength and our song (Psalm 118:14). 

You are our salvation!  We trust in You. 

We will not fear for we know (Psalm 46:1-7) in Whom our confidence rests. 

You are righteous.  You are holy. 

You are completely trustworthy and we praise You, Lord, we praise You! 

Amen.

I’ve been asked “How do you pray for what’s going on with the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh?”  My reply, “Early and often” maybe isn’t what people actually want to know.  What they’re really asking is how you even begin to pray for such a situation. 

Scripture, my friends, Scripture.

Brett Kavanaugh is a devout Catholic and irrespective of some evangelicals’ view of Catholicism, I believe that Christ-followers can be found in Catholicism, in the Protestant Church, and in some of the most unlikely places.  The litmus test isn’t what denomination (since every denomination has its pretenders and many people who should know better are falling away at present), but whether the Holy Spirit indwells the individual by faith. 

That’s rock solid from God’s perspective, the only perspective that counts.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure <sarcasm warning> of being hated and slandered, let me tell you that it hurts and it’s most hurtful coming from who you think are your own, fellow Christians, fellow travelers in your line of work, even family members.  What you thought was a connection, a bond of trust, is suddenly and shockingly broken.

To Judge Kavanaugh, my brother in Christ, I would remind him of the words spoken by our brother Jesus, Matthew 10: 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you… 24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!”

Be encouraged, Judge Kavanaugh, Jesus tells you not to worry.  Remain faithful and God will do the speaking.  Stay strong in your weakness, Judge Kavanaugh, for like the Apostle Paul, a hero of the faith, 2 Corinthians 12:10 “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  You’re sharing in the sufferings of Christ and you will be a better Supreme Court Justice for it.

You’re in good company, Judge Kavanaugh—they did it to Jesus too.  Matthew 26:59 “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward.”  Jesus knows about witnesses, both true and false, and He knows exactly what happened 30+ years ago for you.  He knows better than anyone what’s going on now. 

In eternity’s balance and on its scales of justice, facts and His truth rule the day, no matter what happens here on earth.

So, my brother Brett, my sister Ashley, here is my prayer for you and your family.

Lord God, our Father in heaven, we praise You for the wisdom of discipline for Your children, for Your forming deep channels of trust in You so we might know where Your peace surely rules, where the water is completely still under Your powerful hand.  We praise You for joy even in suffering because we know that You have walked this road ahead of us and have made eternal life with You possible. 

We thank You, Lord, for how knowable You are in the midst of stress, turmoil, sadness, and persecution.  Thank You that You are near to the brokenhearted, having mercy and compassion upon us.  We thank You, Lord, that the Truth triumphs in the end.

We lift Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh, as well as their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret, up to You, Lord, for Your protection.  Your comfort.  Your wisdom.  Your strength.  May they rest in the sure knowledge of Your unconditional love for them and that You have called Judge Kavanaugh to this place in history.  May Judge Kavanaugh see the years of preparation You have given him for such a time as this. 

May he be comforted by the fellowship of believers across this nation and around the world who are lifting him in prayer to You, Father, for You alone know all things.  You alone are powerful.  You alone hold history in Your hand.  You alone know the bigger battle is occurring in a realm we cannot see.  May our weapons of Your Truth, Your righteousness, Your Word, and Your Gospel protect and preserve the Kavanaugh family as they persevere. 

Bless them, Lord, with unmistakable knowledge of Your love for them.  Shelter the Kavanaugh family and give them complete rest in Christ, even in the presence of those arrayed against them.  We trust You, Lord, to do what is right, for You are holy.  We trust that no weapon formed against You will stand and we praise You that nothing can separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Other Scriptures I’m praying include matters of testimony and allegation, promises of comfort, and on benefits of suffering. Deuteronomy 19:15-21, Psalm 34:18, Psalm 23:4-6, Matthew 18:16, Romans 8: 26-39, 1 Peter 4:12-19, 1 Timothy 5:19-21

Why is it so hard oftentimes to move forward…to feel like we’re making progress?” 

Well, that’s something I ask myself frequently.  One day when I was reading this passage, a thought occurred to me. 

Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh– 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ– the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Suddenly I knew: I can’t move forward dragging the weight of everything God has told me to drop, to let go, or to leave behind. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve learned The Powerful Beauty of a Closed Door and I know better now than to try to keep doors open when God is closing them.  If I know something is sin, I have plenty of reasons to let it go and with God’s help, I can drop that, too.  But… 

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What’s hard is letting go of things I really like.  Things that make me feel important or needed.  Accomplishments or work that has borne fruit.   

It’s like that scene from the movie Baby Mama when Kate Holbrook is interviewing her potential surrogate Angie: 

• Kate: You have a God-given ability that I just don’t have. 
• Angie:  I know I could be good at this. 
• Kate: I think you could, too. 
• Angie: And, you know, it’s nice to feel…
• Kate: Needed?
• Angie: Yeah. Needed.
• Kate: Important, useful?
• Angie: I like all those words.

Don’t we all like to feel that way: important, useful, like our lives matter because of what we do? Isn’t it hard when God says, “Let it go. Time to move on” and you’re stuck with letting go of what you love (to be obedient) or end up holding on to what you love and rebelling against God? 

Yet, the Apostle Paul reminds us to travel light as we head heavenward.  To let go of everything in order to cling to Christ and follow Him. 

Going back to the thought of absolutes. Think about it: 

• Look at verses 3, 8, and 13-14.  What is absolute about them?
• What did Paul put behind himself?  Is he talking about sin or confidence in himself, his credentials? 
• Anything we cling to which separates us from God is an idol.  Whether it’s what’s in your wallet or what’s in your closet, if it’s in the way of obedience, will you let it go, and leave it behind in order to head heavenward in Christ Jesus? 

Praise Him for His wisdom and His perfect plan!  Praise Him for His admonition to let it go, to keep us from thinking we can earn His love!  Praise Him that He loves us unconditionally!  Praise Him for this heavenward call to love and righteousness!

We can be encouraged by seeing that God deals in absolutes, all the time.  Today, let’s look at the further encouragement that we can have because our God does nothing half-way, half-rate, or half-baked.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Looking at that passage through a lens of absolutes, just look what God offers us!  

• We’re brothers and sisters in Christ (period!) and we don’t need to be enemies or adversaries anymore (if only we understood that). 
• We can have confidence, not just a little bit of etiquette coaching to keep us from getting obliterated, but full confidence to enter. 
• Enter what?  The Most Holy Place!  Before we would have been afraid to come into God’s presence, but now we can have confidence!  Full and complete!
• We have confidence because this is the absolute power of the blood of Jesus.  He is our absolute and perfect sacrifice! 
• He opened a new way, not simply rebuilding, reforming, or tweaking an old way.   
• He opened a living way because He died for our sins.  He didn’t half die, half suffer, or go Dutch, half paying and we’re responsible for the other half.  No way!  He said, “It is finished!”  Boom.  Now we have access to eternal life!
• He’s our Great High Priest over the house of God!  He’s needs no other intermediaries and we don’t either.  Jesus Christ is absolutely perfect and perfectly enough for all we need for all time.
• We can have sincere hearts and full assurance of faith.  No half-hearted and tepid assurance!  Nope.  It’s all or nothing.
• Why?  Because our hearts have been cleansed … even from a guilty conscience as if we’ve been washed head-to-toe, inside and out with pure water that doesn’t come from a bottle or filtered Zero water.  It’s perfectly pure.

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Because this is absolutely, completely, and thoroughly ours through confession of faith in Christ and His immeasurable grace, we have total confidence in this hope:

He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)

Think about it: 

• If God didn’t deal in absolutes, how much confidence could we really have? 
• If we have been all-or-nothing forgiven by grace, because it’s all or nothing law (James 2:10) that we cannot keep, how does that raise the stakes for spreading the good news about salvation? 
• How ought it inform our understanding that we have been forgiven and not reliving what we regret?

Praise Him!  He is faithful.  Praise Him for this full and complete confidence given to us as a gift!  Praise Him for the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.  Praise Him that we need no other advocate or intermediary!  Praise Him!  He is God alone.

Isaiah 66:1 This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Sometimes we just don’t get it.  We think we can earn favor with God. 

Maybe not so much with our minds, but in our actions. 

Striving, striving, work, work, work, doing things for the Lord. 

It’s not only foolish, it’s prideful.  And I say this as one who learns this tough lesson over and again, only to lapse back into the same old routine until I remind myself of this truth:  God doesn’t need my help with anything. 

All He wants is for me to recognize Him for who He is, for what He has done, and the absolute nature of it all. 

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You see, there is no half-way with God.  Part sovereign, part helpless?  Part Creator and part experiencing Creator’s block after that random accidental explosion in space surprised Him and now He’s watching spell-bound as the warm little pond takes over?  Part goodness and holiness …and part just not caring what we do?  We ought not deceive ourselves.  There is no 50:50 or even 85:15.  It’s all or nothing. He cares very much what we do, all the time. 

God dwells in absolutes. 

He is God and everything else…and I do mean everything…is created.  Therefore, in my seeing Him rightly, I see myself as I am.  Created.  I can chill.  He’s got it covered.  And my response can simply be humility, a contrite spirit, and trembling at God’s word.  Why?  Because I see my smallness for real in the realm of the footstool.  After all, He is King and “Heaven is My Throne,” He says.

Think about it: 

• What has happened to absolutes in our culture? 
• Why do you think our culture rejects absolutes? 
• In what ways is our tendency to go on auto-pilot as if the sovereign of our lives is ourselves?  
• How has the drift away from acknowledging a Creator God contributed to this?

Praise Him—He is sovereign!  Praise Him—He is good!  Praise Him—He knows the stars and He knows your name, too.  Praise Him—He will never leave you stranded half-way, He’ll be with you to the end.  Praise Him—He esteems those who know Him and obey His Word.  Praise Him—He is above all circumstances and has all the power you’ll ever need to solve any problem.  Praise Him—He calms storms and He carries you through the ones His wisdom will not calm so your faith will grow.  Praise Him—He is King and He reigns forever.  Amen.

World angst over the large and small, the first-world problems and the very real ones, stresses over life-as-we-know-it and life-as-we-thankfully-don’t … it can weigh a person down. 

The prophet Jeremiah in his book of sorrow, Lamentations, describes that downcast feeling…that time when you feel like you’ve had enough and just can’t take it anymore. 

Lamentations 3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. 9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked. 10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, 11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. 12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows. 13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. 14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. 15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall. 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. 17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.” 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Wow.  His life stinks.  What was his solution?  Get off Twitter, it’s a sewer?  Start a Facebook fast?  Stop posting on Instagram?  Turn off the nightly news?  Nope.

Lamentations 3:21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

He did what King David did before him:  “Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6) 

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This new series Encouraging Verses will help us to do the same.  To strengthen, to encourage ourselves in the Lord our God.  Verses to remind us of God’s great love, His compassion, His faithfulness, His sovereignty, His power, and all the other reasons we can simply trust His goodness. 

Encouraging Verses, even in times like these.  Especially in times like these.

You know, it doesn’t really matter how many times people say it, it’s still not true, when they say that a man cannot represent a woman’s interests. 

And how thankful I am that two men did!

Scripture is clear about such representation: 

 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

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The simple truth is Representation is God’s Wisdom for Salvation from Sin.  Only God could have seen the wisdom in it from the very beginning.  Even before He picked up some dust of the Earth and made the decision to create Adam.  Before God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26).  Man would rule as God’s representative (in His Image, in His likeness) and implement God’s reign over the rest of creation.  Representation was there.  Intentionally.

Had representation not been there in Adam, salvation would not be possible by representation in Christ.

Let that sink in.  The genius of it all, on many levels.

When we deny we’re created by God, we are excluding ourselves from being redeemed in Him also.  We’d miss out on representation completely.  We’re only represented because we were created.

When we deny we sin and have a sin nature inherited through Adam’s first sin, we are denying also our representation in Christ’s finished work on the Cross, defeating sin for us.  We are represented as the human race with Adam’s having sin’s self-inflicted brokenness and Christ being the healer by defeating it.

Moreover, when I—as a woman—deny my relationship to man and Eve’s being formed from Adam, I’m excluding myself from being represented by Christ.  When I view every man as the product of “toxic masculinity” I deny that Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).  Jesus was a biological male and not toxic whatsoever.  For women to paint all men with a “broad-brush” is wrong and I need to accept, with gratitude, that I can be—and was—represented by a man who died on a Cross in my place.

What do you think about representation now?  Why do surface characteristics only go so far?  Do you see the danger in demanding a woman’s savior, an Asian savior, a black savior, and a gay savior, etc?  Such identity-representation requirements are skin-deep and ineffective.  I’m thankful for God’s way.  It’s genius, really, that Representation is God’s Wisdom for Salvation from Sin.

Just imagine for a moment if we could earn our way out of our sin predicament and separation from God.  I can picture a few different scenarios: 

1. We’d be beating each other up for opportunities to earn our way out of Hell. 
2. We’d procrastinate, waiting until the last minute like cramming for finals. 
3. We’d misjudge how much earning we’d need like people do with retirement income in commercials. 
4. We’d amass huge salvation-earning-stockpiles and portfolios and show off to our friends and neighbors. 
5. We’d get into an “I’m more saved than you are” attitude. 
6. We’d post about it on social media and inflate our good works to make jealous those among our bazillion closest friends we’ve never met and prompt their immediate unfriending. 
7. We’d cut God out of the equation completely.  Ouch.

That’s why God—in His infinite wisdom—doesn’t let us do that.  He gives us grace.  We come to Him by faith and if our faith is genuine, God opens His stockpile of grace and simply gives salvation to us as a free gift in a miraculous exchange, courtesy of Jesus.

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Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved… 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

It’s a reflection of God’s love for you and for me…

and more accurately, for His Image in you and in me. 

You see, if it was God’s love for your personality, my flesh, your actions, my thoughts, etc., we’d be earning it.  There is only one thing I have in common with you in equal amounts: God’s Image.  If you want to split hairs, you could say, we’re both human in equal amounts and we both have a sin disposition, but for two things:  God doesn’t love our sinfulness—that sin nature—and it’s God’s Image that separates human animal, you and me, from the rest of the Animal Kingdom.

So, it begs the questions: 

Are you still trying to earn your way to heaven? 

Or do you see that Grace is the Wisdom of Favor We Cannot Earn?”

Have you ever noticed that at the same time submission has become a dirty word, authority has become an object of hatred? 

What began as a breakdown of Christian education became a relational breakdown in the home and that became a systemic breakdown in our culture.  The circle of chaos repeats, enlarging with every generation.

Women and men are increasingly giving up on the way of truth and true life in the Bible’s instruction:

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). 

The ramifications of this neglect are dire: children rebelling against parents.  Students rebelling against teachers.  Lawbreakers rebelling against police.  People rebelling against their elected government.  Culture rebelling against God.  I wish people understood how wrong that is in all its forms.  It’s harmful to both self and culture.

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How wonderful it would be if everyone had an appreciation for the beauty of biblical submission and biblical authority, both perfect and amazing in their own ways at the same time!  It is a reflection, a pattern, of our relationship with God. 

It is the only sustainable way of true life.  It’s not a negative at all when viewed rightly. It’s not a power-thing.  It’s not a control-thing.  It’s not a comparative-superiority thing.  But the latter is the meaning our culture has given it.

Therefore, perhaps the larger problem is that people prefer to be in authority rather than under it.  They prefer to require submission from others instead of being in submission themselves.  It’s essentially saying, “I’m right” or “I want power” or “You’d be better off under my control and direction.”  It’s pride, arrogance, and selfishness at its very core, directed at the horizontal relationships of human interaction.  But it’s also spiritual.  It’s rebellion against God, defiance against our Maker, and rejection of His rightful authority over us.

The Church has failed the people in its acquiescence to the culture.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for every woman’s right to be treated as equally wonderful creations of God. 

But the point at which we didn’t teach God’s authority, we also rejected our dependence upon each other as men and women equally submitted to God, and turned our gaze downward to each other, and adopted all the bad things equal authority can give and forsook the beautiful protection of submission at all levels.  We became enemies, adversaries, or at least competitors instead of cooperative partners in a godly team enjoying a journey of mutual submission to our supreme Authority: God Himself.

What’s the cure for this rebellion?  Submission.  The Wisdom of Respecting Authority, not rejecting it. Far from being bad news, it leads us to the place of the life-giving good news modeled by our Savior whom Scripture says is fully God … just like the Father … and yet said, Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Christians need to see the true sustainable life in mutual submission and display its wisdom to the world around us.

Do you trust God?  Some of us say “You bet!”  Some of us say “Yes, but…”  Some of us don’t trust Him at all or even acknowledge His existence.

Truth is, I’m in the “Yes, but” category more often than I’d like to think.  Trusting God day in and day out is really easy…until He asks you to do something that scares the socks off of you, something that will make you really unpopular, something you’ve never tried and don’t know how to do, or something you’ve tried before and have failed at doing more times than you can count.

When we’re on autopilot doing our thing and God is the invisible copilot of our life, trust is easy because in truth, we’re trusting ourselves and expect God will get us out of a jam if we get into one.  Taking a joy ride through life with God as a copilot requires remarkably little trust in Him.

But…when God says, “Excuse Me, but you’re in My seat” and decides to take over as pilot by rights, that’s when a holy fear sets in.  He steers to places we don’t want to go … to learn lessons we need to learn but don’t want to … and He tests our faith and monitors the who and what of our fears.

Fearless is the Wisdom of Trusting God in Adversity. 

When He’s the pilot and steers your flight to the war zone

and you’re tempted to be scared,

instead be fearless because you trust Him and you trust what He’s doing.

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Isaiah 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says– he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

As you reread this passage of Scripture, note the bookends of why we should not fear and our reasons to be fearless.  His creative work is unparalleled.  His redemption is permanent.  His summons is real.  His ownership is authentic and inalterable.  His presence with you is promised.  His protection flows from His character as an almighty, unchangeable, and loving God.

He can command “Fear not” because He was there in the past when you were created and formed and redeemed and summoned.  He is here claiming ownership.  You are mine, He says.  He declares His promise to be with His redeemed as He is forever I AM.  What a powerful final bookend! It’s like a gavel pounding.  He says

I AM … the Lord … your God … the Holy One … your Savior.

In light of Who He is and Whose you are, would you say you are fearless?