Fear

Fear.  I do not like it.  It causes me to lose sleep.  At times it paralyzes me.

I struggled with fear this past week as I laid on a hospital bed awaiting a procedure to hopefully eliminate my paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (a heart that beats irregularly periodically).

Fear is a normal emotion in the face of uncertainty.  It is nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.  Fear in itself is not a sin.  It’s only sin when we use it as an excuse not to follow through with what God has already told us to do.

Even the disciples struggled with fear.  After Jesus was crucified they huddled in a room afraid of the Jewish leaders (John 20:19).  They had witnessed Jesus do miracle after miracle, including raising people from the dead.  Yet, they feared that the Jewish leaders may come after them next.

How did this group of men and women go from hiding in a room to continually worshipping Jesus with great joy in the temple at Jerusalem? (Luke 24:50-53)

Jesus stood in the midst of them and spoke, “Peace to you.”  (Luke 24:36).  He then reminded them of who He was:  The risen and victorious Lord!  His presence increased their faith.  The disciples then quit hiding and openly worshipped in the temple in plain sight of the Jewish leaders.  Their fear dissipated. 

Ann Judson, one of the first women missionaries to Burma, had so many reasons to be afraid.   In 1812 she boarded a transatlantic ship to India at the age of 23, two weeks after she married Adnoriam Judson.  She lost three children on the mission field and her husband was imprisoned in Burma for 17 months.  She never wavered from the calling on her life to reach others for Christ.  After her best friend, Harriet Newell, died at sea, Ann wrote in her journal “I find it hard to live by faith, and confide entirely in God, when the way is dark before me.  But if the way were plain and easy, where would the room be for confidence in God.”  (Sharon James, Ann Judson: A Missionary Life For Burma, p. 72)

Fear is an opportunity for us to remember who Jesus is and choose to trust Him when the way before us appears to be uncertain.  Fear is the time for worship.  It is our chance to boldly declare who Jesus is despite our feelings or circumstances.  The world awaits such faith. 

What are you afraid of today?  Choose to spend some time today singing worship songs and reading Scripture out loud.    Choose to obey what you know He has called you to do even if the way appears to be dark.  

In Psalm 56:3-4 when David had been captured by the Philistines, he wrote: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.  In God whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me?”