I’ve been thinking about fear this week. Fear creeps into my life periodically, and I let it sit there for awhile. I imagine different unpleasant scenarios: I play out possibilities in my mind and harbor those fears–caring for them and letting them grow in my mind–until I have developed what may be the absolute worst outcome that could possibly occur in the present situation. Then, after a time (sometimes a longer time than others), I remember that my life is in the hands of Almighty God, that nothing can just sneak in without His knowledge. He is in control, and He is bigger than my fears. I realize that when I fear, I am believing in the devil more than in God; I am believing that the devil will do whatever it is he has whispered into my ear and that God is not big enough to come to my rescue. I find that what I am really believing is that that all the promises in the Bible–written by our Almighty God–are less powerful than those evil whisperings.
Why, after all these years of life with God, haven’t I learned that whatever happens to me is subject to the God who loves me, and the outcome is in His hands? I find that when I look back on the things I have feared, not a single one has turned out like my fearful imaginings predicted. In fact, most of these situations simply evaporated and ended up amounting to absolutely nothing. So why can’t I remember that first? Why do I only remember it after I have allowed myself to be subjected to all those fearful imaginings?
Photo credit: iStockphoto, timsa
