When fear is your friend
This fresh set of Daily Devotions is being provided for our LCA/NZ family, friends and visitors to help us to keep our eyes on Jesus as we face unsettling times. They can be used by families and individuals as part of the LCA/NZ’s Church@Home resources to encourage us and build trust in our Heavenly Father during this season of uncertainty and physical isolation.
by Linda Macqueen
Click here for your printable verse to carry with you today.
The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock (Matthew 7:25).
Mr Google tells me that there are 365 commands in the Bible to ‘Fear not’ or ‘Do not be afraid’. So there’s something to not fear for every day of the year. It’s pretty clear that fear is not something God desires for you, and I’m confident you won’t have heard a devotion writer over this pandemic season suggesting that fear can be a good thing.
Until now.
Yes, it’s true that God wants you to be able to trust him completely, in every situation and circumstance, and if you obeyed the First Commandment to perfection, you would do that. You would never be afraid – of anything, ever. But in reality, despite your best efforts to muscle up your faith, sometimes your heart trembles and your knees shake – and you get frightened. You shift your attention from the One True God to other gods. Maybe this global pandemic is one of those times. Is the ground beneath your feet feeling pretty shaky right now?
So, when (not if) fear sneaks in uninvited through the laundry door of your life, don’t fight it; instead, invite it to sit with you for a while and get to know it. Listen to its story. Find out where it’s coming from.
Fear can become your friend if you follow it back to its source. What is it that you are clinging to that the thought of losing it rattles you so fiercely? Is it your superannuation, your job, your lifestyle, your house, perhaps your life? Facing your fears will help you to identify your false gods, the slipping sand you’ve built your life on.
Maybe your fear of this pandemic and its impact can shine a floodlight on your false gods, exposing them as frauds and thieves, and turning you back to the One True God. If your fear does that, then it can indeed be your friend.
Dear Father, forgive me for building my life on sandy ground. Reveal to me during this time of uncertainly and anxiety those things that have turned into false gods. Help me by your Holy Spirit to turn away from them and return to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.
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