Fear Not
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:8-14
When the angel of the Lord appeared to the Shepherds who were watching their flocks outside the town of Bethlehem, their first reaction was “great fear.” That is easily understandable. Their normal routine and serene life were interrupted and invaded by a heavenly being. The Lord’s glory shone on them. The veil separating the spiritual world from the natural had been removed, and these simple working men found themselves caught up in the complex divine revelation of redemption. So, “great fear, might be an understatement.
Therefore, the angel’s first words are a message of reassurance. This invasion of the divine into their very human existence was not intended to harm, but to help them. It was not going to bring about their demise, but their salvation.
What an incredible display of God’s grace and mercy in that He speaks first, not to the wealthy and powerful of this world’s systems; but to the lowly and lonely, the forgotten men who quietly labor away, eking out a living in a hard occupation.
This doesn’t suggest that God has no love for or concern for the elites of this world. He does. But it does remind us that God sees men and women differently than we do. He doesn’t cast out the outcast who come to Christ in faith. He doesn’t reject the rejected who believe the gospel. He doesn’t forget those who the world forgets and he sees those who are invisible to the eyes of the world they live in.
