Fears

God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.

 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

 Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 

—Psalms 46— NIV 

 

THOUGHT:

 

Do you struggle with that monster called “Fear”?  Do you fight the tendency to be afraid to venture out into the world again?  Or do you question whether or not we really should take that first step out of the door?  Well, I must admit to you, fearfully, that I am.

 

No matter what channel you watch on TV or listen to on the radio, there are the warnings to all of us about the veracity of COVID 19.  Not only are the warnings scary, but also confusing.  Some people tell us it’s getting better with less people getting the virus and fewer people dying from it.  Then on the other channel, they tell us that the numbers are rising.  Hmmm….First they tell us that masks and gloves and cleaning are important, and yet just this morning there was someone saying that now they don’t believe touching surfaces is as dangerous as we thought – mostly get it through the air.  Hmmm….New York seemed to be the “hot spot” for awhile but now it’s other states.  Where do they get these numbers and who is really interpreting them accurately?  All I know is it is scary and confusing.  My biggest fear is not that I will contract the virus, but that I will die alone in the hospital bed since no one is allowed to visit.  When I have been in the hospital in the past, it was my family and friends that kept me sane and able to get well.  I can’t imagine what these nursing home residents or hospital patients are doing without their families.  Every time I see a family reunion when someone survives, it brings tears to my eyes.  

 

Yet, I find console in the following points:

 

a.  If something does happen and I don’t make it, I believe I know where I will end up, in the realms of Heaven with my Savior.

b.  I have His Word to lean on in times of fear. 

 

Many times in the Bible, God speaks of His Protection and the comfort that we can find in Him.  It is not mentioned once as an aside.  It is encompassed in stories, parables, proverbs, psalms, and the Gospel.  It allows us to be the fearful child, running to Jesus, and symbolically able to crawl into His lap and cry out with our fears.  Jesus, with His Love, pulls us close to Him.  He doesn’t try to say that the fear doesn’t exist, nay, He lets us know it is OK to be fearful.  It is OK to seek comfort from Him.  It is OK to look for soothing Words from Him.  It’s OK.  

 

I invite you to the scene of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible tells us that He sweat blood during His prayers to His Father in Heaven.  We remember that He was fully Divine and yet still fully human – able to feel and experience the fear of what was to come.  What He experienced during the Crucifixion was horrible enough but can you imagine what it must have felt like “knowing” of the journey ahead of time?  I imagine the fear was enough to bring anyone to their knees, sweating blood, anxiously asking if there was another way. During those prayers, I suspect that God the Father was able to comfort Jesus sufficiently enough to make his prophetic journey possible.  With dignity, honor, and courage, our Savior allowed Himself to be whipped, spit on, mocked, beaten, and ultimately crucified in order to save us from our sins.  

 

That truth alone shows us how much God loves us and is willing to allay our fears.  Whether it is in His Word or through fellow Christians or through prayer – He is there to defeat the fears that enslave us.  

 

So, I believe, as humans, as His children, it’s OK to be afraid.  It’s normal, it’s expected in some life situations, and we all experience it from time to time.  Yet, He is there to allay those fears in so many different ways.  

 

So, be human.  

 

Feel.  

 

Survive.  

 

Succeed……in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

 

PRAYER:

 

Abba, help us with this unsure world around us.  Help us be courageous and bold as we start to make baby steps back to our routines.  Fear is real but even more real is Your Love.  Help us to articulate those fears and bring them to the foot of Your Throne.  Help us to know we are human and not super-human.  Comfort us.  Hold us.  Help us succeed against the world’s traumas.  We love you, Abba.  

 

AMEN

 

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