My life has been a series of ups and downs, probably much like anyone's. I can remember great victories throughout my time on the earth. I can also remember some incredible lows. Plus there are many areas of my life that God has shaped over my many years on earth (no, I'm not going to say how many years....).
But one thing has been an incredible weakness for me at times through it all - fear. Some who know me well might say, no way, really? Yes, fear. Sometimes it's fear over small things, sometimes it's fear over large mountains in my way. Sometimes it's just the fear of the unknown. What I've realized is that God knows this about me, and He has ways of pushing me out of my comfort zone frequently. I always recall the story of the mother bird, who at some point has to push the baby bird out of the nest to encourage him to fly. Well, I'm a large baby bird, and God has pushed me out of the nest at times. Actually, there have been times He has not just pushed - He's suplexed me out of the nest. Professional wrestling fans will understand what that means....not that I'm condoning that sport.
In particular, there are a few things that are especially difficult for me. Those are the things that I see God working most intensely in me to get me to trust Him. I'm reminded of some great Scripture on this. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." This tells me that my fear didn't come from God, so I know who it did come from. The only fear related to God is the "fear of the Lord" spoken in Proverbs 1, which tells me how to worship Him. In fact, if I practice the "fear of the Lord", then my other fears are likely to subside, even vanish in His power. Psalm 46 tells us, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear." The end of that passage says, "Be still and know that I am God." Man, that's good stuff!
Then there's the idea of faith. Fear and faith have a lot of trouble coexisting in the same place at the same time. The Bible is rich in encouragement about faith. One of my favorites is Hebrews 12, which reminds us to keep our focus on Jesus Christ, not the things around us, and certainly not our sin or the weights that slow us down. This passage follows up the reminder in Hebrews 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please Him (God)". I think it's often those sins and weights that take our eyes off God and lead to fear. It's like Peter walking on the water. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was ok. As soon as he looked to the waves, he fell. One way that encourages me is to stay faithful in my time in the Word and prayer. It helps me to look at everything with His eyes, not my own. And that helps eliminate human fear.
I was reminded today that as I live in the will of God, I do not need to fear. Anything God does or allows in my life is for His glory and my good. Plain and simple. My life is bigger than me. It's not bigger than God. As the song goes I teach to the children at church: My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do.
Pastor Randy
