In a time of panic, God's people have every reason to react entirely differently. These verses help us see how. There are three good reasons given:
1. 'Your Name is near' ... We have a God who has made Himself known to us, has revealed His love towards us in Jesus, and covenanted His love towards us ... He will never leave us nor forsake us, and we are hidden within the stronghold of His love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. This is His perfect love that drives out fear.
2. 'People tell of your wonderful deeds' ... He is a God who works in mighty ways. He has told us that He will shake the nations so that the desired of all nations will come into His Kingdom. He does this through many means, even through the fallenness of this world. He is sovereign God. Like Jesus, resting in a boat in the middle of a storm, we can rest in God's sovereign purpose and authority.
3. 'I choose the appointed time' ... We have a God who rules over all of time. The Psalmist in Ps139 reminds us that every day ordained for us was planned before one of them came to be. Our times are in His hands. He has numbered our days. Our life will not end until the time He has ordained. But this verse also speaks of the time of God's judgement. That reminds us that it is God who ordains even that final time and that even then, if we are in Christ, all God's just anger over our rebellion has been spent on Jesus - we are the redeemed. So, whatever the times are, we are secure in Him and need not fear.
There is one result of knowing all this in Jesus ... The Psalm starts and ends with praise. Even in the worst circumstances, God's people can be a people of praise because we know the certainty of God's love, power and authority. So, let's be the people we ought to be in Christ even when all around us fear.
