Have you ever been afraid? As much as the Bible tells us to not be afraid, there always seems to be something, right? It might be something little, or it might be something long thought to be dead and buried – but instead grew in size. I’ve been digging up and examining quite a lot of my past that I wish could stay buried, but if it’s buried alive, it never really dies, does it? When we bury things, it usually ends up growing and choking out the things that are supposed to be growing in the garden of your heart.
While visiting with some family, the topic of fear came to mind in an unexpected way. It helped propel me down this road of examining things I was never wanting to lay eyes on. I was coming out of our room to head downstairs and was surprised to see our toddler standing there. Waiting. For me. She looked at me, then down the stairs, and held out her hand for me to hold it. Well, that was a first when it came to these stairs. See? Something so simple.
She’s never had a bad fall down them – and it had been a while since we had stairs to go down – but she was suddenly afraid of going down them by herself. As we very slowly went down them, I started thinking about when she was learning to walk. There were so many times she would sneak up the very same stairs in the sneakiest way. We would find her sitting near the top of the stairs with a big smile on her face, a smirk shining from her eyes, and would race to get to her because she was already moving to attempt the return journey by herself. The danger didn’t quite register in her 7-month-old brain… but as a toddler, she has started seeing something to fear.
It’s interesting how we learn to fear. For me, white water rafting was a fun family outing… until we hit a higher class rapid than expected, the raft threw us all out and I started going down the river, sometimes under the water. That was back when I was a kiddo, but the fear has stuck with me. While I’m not paralyzed in fear being near a class 4-5 rapid, I’m not such a big fan anymore of being in the rapids regardless of the class. Maybe you can’t relate to my fear, but what about medical appointments? Routine medical appointments are nothing to fear either, but it just takes one visit with a negative report to bring about a touch of fear for all of the appointments that follow.
If you’ve read any of my recent posts, I’ve really been on a soapbox about getting into God’s Word… regularly. It’s based on a passage in Matthew that has been going through my head and heart for the last 7 years. The way I can apply it to every aspect of my life simply boggles my mind, but that’s who God is – He’s applicable to every area of my life.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.” Matthew 6:33 NASB
Worried about digging up past trauma? Seek Him. Worried about medical reports? Seek Him. Worried about rip-roaring rapids washing you away? Seek Him. Seek. Him. It seems so simple that it can’t possibly be true, right? But it is! The same God who created the complexities of the entire universe all the way to the single-celled organisms (also pretty impressive for only being one cell) gave us a simple solution to everything we might encounter: Seek Him.
Yeah, it sounds too easy. It sounds like one of those sales pitches that promises the world only to deliver a bucket of rocks that you drown by. God promises us so many things that we tend to not believe because we’ve experienced the opposite of what God’s Word says. What I’ve stated before – and still stand on – is that God’s Word is true regardless of our experiences. We can either live in faith or we can live in fear. We can either live in the Truth of God’s Word, or the counterfeit offered by the devil.
God’s Word promises us forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 1:7, I John 1:9), that our sins are not remembered (Isaiah 43:25, Psalm 103:12, Hebrews 8:12), that He’s provided health and healing to our bodies (Jeremiah 30:17, Psalm 103:3, Isaiah 53:5), that all our needs will be supplied with good things (II Corinthians 9:8, Psalm 34:10, Philippians 4:19), that we’ll have peace in the storms (Psalm 29:11, John 14:27, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:6-7), and that He’ll always be with us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Isaiah 41:10).
There are many other promises that God has made to us, but I’m trying to be mindful of my word count. Feel free to email me (ohblessitgrace@gmail.com) or drop a comment if you’re interested in some of the others. But back to God’s promises vs the fear we always seem to have pop up.
A pastor I listen to on occasion made a statement that caught my attention. Faith is trusting that God is going to show up. Fear is trusting that Satan is going to show up.
Not sure how that landed with you, but it hit me… hard. I’ve seen the shirts and bumper stickers that send the message of Faith over Fear and thought it was catchy, but now just kind of roll my eyes. But what if we look at it in this new light: what if we start seeing it as God over Satan. We’re going to trust either God or Satan – which will it be?
As I took my toddler’s hand to go down the stairs, I couldn’t help but wish I had taken God’s hand during the times I was scared. When I faced something scary, I was hoping God would show up, but I trusted that Satan was already there. Some of those times I felt too much shame to even imagine that God would be there for me, but that Satan was greeting me with his arms open wide. If I had just reached out my hand to God, how different things would have been…
But now, this is what the Lord says, He who is your Creator, Jacob, and He who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. Isaiah 43:1-2 NASB
God never promised a trouble-free life. But He did promise to be with us. He did promise to provide for our every need. He did promise to not only show up when we need Him, but He’ll never leave us in the first place. Do we trust Him?