Faith--not fear--in Him

   
     "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?" (Ps.56:3-4)
     "I have set the Lord always before me, because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure."  (Ps.16:8-9)
     Thank You, Father, that You know we will experience fear in this life.  Accidents, failures, diseases, uncertainties can leave us feeling breathless with anxiety.  But You, Lord, are always our Rock, our Refuge, our Fortress and our very present help in trouble and in fear.  
     Our son, Richard, is on a mission trip in Kenya.  We just learned that his team was involved in a car accident.  Another vehicle was apparently trying to pass them on Kenya's very narrow roads and sideswiped them and caused their van to roll over.  Praise the Lord no one was seriously injured.  O thank You, Father, for Your hand of protection.  But a wonderful doctor on their team, Mark Helms, and Richard both apparently suffered significant enough injuries that they required a number of stitches.  The details are still fuzzy, but the last we heard was that Richard had to have 16 stitches in his shoulder, and Mark was going to a larger hospital for treatment of a laceration to his arm.
     So here's the thing--my first response when we heard about this was fear.  In fact, pretty overwhelming anxiety.  Another wreck.  Another accident involving one of our children when we were not there and could not help them.  A sense of helplessness that we could not protect those we love, as well as worry about what they might not be telling us.  And fear for all the members of the team.  The fear so suffocated me that I literally could not catch my breath for several minutes.
     So what do we do with our fear?  Where do we take it?  
     The Lord's still, small voice whispered--take it to Me.  Hand it to Me.  Let Me bear the burden of your fear.
     My first thought had been, "Lord why?  Where were You?  How could You allow this to happen...again?"   But almost immediately, the Lord reminded me--"I was right where I always am--right there with them."  He was in that wreck.  He was in Janie's wreck.  In fact, the Lord Jesus took on the greatest wreck of all--the wreck of the cross--and bore our punishment and pain for us...all for us.  He took the fear.  He took the sorrow.  He took the anguish.  He took the forsakenness.  He bore every bit of it all so that we need never ever experience the full brunt of it.
      He defeated it all...and rose from the dead, victorious.
     And if He defeated it all, then we, who are in Christ will defeat it as well.
     If He rose...we will rise.
     If He lives...we will live.
     If He endured the agonies of the cross...then we will endure whatever we are facing.
     If He trusts and never ever gives in to fear...then we will trust in Him and refuse to fear.
     If He conquers sin and death and despair...well, then we will conquer them as well.
     Thank You, Father, that because we are in You, You are with us in absolutely everything we will ever go through.  We need not fear, for You are with those that we love--no matter where on the earth they may be right now.  And we need not fear because You will not only never leave us or forsake us, but You also have all power, all hope, all joy, all peace, all sufficiency, ALL we need to enable us to walk through whatever storms we may face in this life.
     As Max Lucado puts it: "The next time you find yourself alone in a dark alley facing the undeniables of life, don't cover them with a blanket, or ignore them with a nervous grin. Don't turn up the TV and pretend they aren't there.  Instead, stand still, whisper His name, and listen.  He is nearer than you think."
    Yep, He is.  Always has been.  Always will be.  Forever and ever...until faith becomes sight and He takes us to His--and our--glorious home.
    Until then, we will choose to place our trust in our Savior, knowing that in Him, we cannot be shaken.  Not by accidents.  Not by fear.  Not with our Lord.  To God be the glory.