Is there anything you fear?
I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone felt safe. Well, almost everyone it seemed … except me. I was what my mother called a “scaredy cat.”
I hated darkness and I was always convinced there were monsters out there. My mother tried to reassure me and sweetly told me I was “goofy.”
She was right. Nothing bad ever happened … until … while visiting my parents during my adult years, out of nowhere what I feared happened.
While we were peacefully sleeping, a matter of feet away, our neighbor was brutally murdered. I, like everyone else, was shaken to the core.
That pivotal event set off a chain of anxieties rooted in the knowledge that sometimes what one fears might actually happen.
There were other events in life that were devastating. Medical crises that we hoped would never happen did happen.
When something we fear happens, satan has an inroad into our minds and spirits. We start believing if we think of something, it is sure to happen.
The more things happen that we fear, the stronger is our preoccupation with evil overtaking us.
So what are we to do? God never intended for us to live in fear. The Bible is full of His Words of “do not fear.”
If we are to reject fear, we must start with one simple Truth. Ironically it is the very truth most of us fear. We cannot control anything.
Jesus did not sugarcoat The Truth.
“In this world you will have trouble.”
John 16:33
He said to expect it. Sometimes it will be trouble we anticipated. Sometimes it will be totally unexpected.
In spite of that, Jesus said, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.”
Matthew 6:34
In Matthew 6, He goes into great detail describing God’s care of His Creation. He assures God will take care of us in our troubles.
After Jesus gave the bad news that there would be troubles in this world, He gave the good news.
“But take heart! I have overcome the world!”
John 16:33
John said,
“There is no fear in Love. But Perfect Love drives out fear!”
1 John 4:18
Perfect Love happens when we trust The One Who controls everything.
When we are in the midst of trouble, we can fully acknowledge we do not understand and we do not know what is going to happen.
But when we do not know, we can trust God Who does know. All we have to know is He is present and He is God.
When we do not know what to do, we can trust God has The Ultimate Plan.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Wherever we are headed, He will be with us always.
Matthew 28:20
“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.”
Isaiah 43:2
“Peace I leave with you; My Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27
Here is the link to Mercy Me’s powerful song about trusting God in troubled times.
