Fear

Today’s blog is influenced by three things.

The first is a text my grandson sent me: “My coworker is afraid we’re going to get nuked and I was like oh well just wanted to send this text because more now than ever we need to realize that our faith in God must be stronger than our faith in man, in our leaders. Jesus is King over all of them and the more we rely on Him and the less on other human beings, the better!”

The second is a comment my wife made during our morning coffee conversation. She said, “I don’t want to engage in conversations with people about current events because I am afraid of the possibility of war.”

The third is a text conversation I had with a niece who is preparing herself for an upcoming surgery. She expressed the fear she has of not waking up from the surgery and leaving her children and family behind.

Each of these centers on a basic human characteristic, that of fear. The devil knows this and wants us to live life afraid. Each of us has fears. We live with different fears than anyone else. Some of those fears we express, as in those three events I mentioned above. Some fears lurk inside and are left unspoken. They foment inside, causing internal stress and even sometimes producing a physical impact.

God does not want us living in fear. No matter what we fear, no matter what causes us anxiety, He wants us to be able to confide in Him and wants us to trust Him. The trouble is that we want to be delivered from the things that cause our fears. But God does not necessarily promise that kind of deliverance. He does promise to deliver us from our fears. He also promises that no matter what valley, even a valley where death seems to be lurking, He will be at our side. The promise is that He will be with us. He provides presence, and strength, and understanding, and courage, and hope, and whatever else we might need. All we have to do, is trust Him.