Perhaps you remember the TV Show, Fear Factor. The show would get people to face their fears for money - things like, laying in a box and allowing snakes or spiders crawl all over you. I was sure that I, unlike some of the actual contestants, would have been able to control my fears...
However, I also remember being afraid in the dark. I remember all the heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and shortness of breath. I am also pretty sure that our fears go much deeper than shadows that go bump in the night.
We fear loss of health, loss of security, loss of independence, even loss of life! We fear for our children, we fear for our aging parents, we fear for the direction of our nation, our world. Guess what? “...God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1: 7 NKJV).
In his book, Soul Detox, Craig Groeschel says that “Fear is placing your faith in “what-ifs” rather than in “God is.”
What-if those medical bills keeping coming?
What-if a political party that I disagree with is in power?
What-if my child is harmed, my parents are in an accident, my job is eliminated?
What-if people don’t like me?
Groeschel wisely reminds us that “almost everyone who allows themselves to be taken hostage by “what-if” discovers that the only thing binding them is their own imagination.”
Groeschel points out a two-fold tendency from our fears.
First, our fears have a tendency to identify our priorities.
Secondly, however, Groeschel says that our fears reveal where we trust God the least. Do we really believe that God is in control? Do our actions support that stated belief?
You may remember that Jesus made it clear in his sermon on the mount (Matthew 6:27)
that all the worrying in the world doesn’t help... “Can any one of you,” he said, “by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
If you’re struggling to trust God, if you are afraid that such trust is misplaced, you have to call it as you see it. Acknowledge your fears, and you’ll know where to start addressing them. Allow God to give you strength, wisdom, and courage in defeating your fear once and for all.
Prayer for the day:
Dear God, allow me to trust you more deeply so that I can abandon my fears. Amen.