Why Be Afraid?

 “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!” Hezekiah’s words greatly encouraged the people.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8

 

Why are we afraid?  Okay, perhaps that's too broad of a question, but I must ask it in a broad sense anyway.  Why are we afraid?  Think about it, we are afraid of things we cannot control: the stock market, our retirement investments, what someone else will do or say to or about us, others perception of us, the list is endless.  And think about this as well, how many times does scripture tell us to "Fear Not"?

 

Every thunderstorm, Woody Bear shakes and no matter how much we try to comfort him and assure him that it will be okay, he is still afraid.  Why?  Because he can see, hear and feel the thunderstorms and nothing we say or do will make that thunderstorm go away.  So he will ultimately go to his "safe place" which is in the back of the closet.  After the storm passes, and he is sure it has passed, he will come out and return to normal.  

 

Aren't we like that as well?  God tells us to not be afraid.  God tells us that HE will take care of us.  God tells us that He will NEVER turn His back on us.  Yet, we are afraid because of what we see, hear, and feel. And when our storm passes, we return to normal.  Why?  Is it because we trust OUR senses instead of the One who gave us our senses?  Is it because we don't truly trust that God will do what He promises?  We don't want to admit that we doubt, but we doubt when things don't go the way WE planned and we get afraid because we aren't the one in control.

 

God reminds us to "Fear Not" because what we face is simply temporary and we have THE One who is eternal on our side!

On The Other Side

 Then the devil left Jesus. And heavenly messengers came and ministered to Him.

~Matthew 4:11

It's not easy having to learn new things, is it? But we have to learn new things throughout our lives. 

We learn new life skills from experiences like: 

     *  sidewalks have invisible speed bumps, teaching us to be careful.

     *  when you are pressed for time, the slowest person ever will get in your way, thus teaching us to either be patient if we are paying attention.

     *  when someone is hurting, we learn what to say and when to shut up.

We learn more difficult skills through experience if we are willing.  

     *  When dealing with difficult people, we learn to stand up for ourselves even when our insides have turned to jelly.  

     *  When we deal with persistent salespeople we learn to say "No Thank You" and walk away.

     *  When we are hurting and feeling weak, we must learn to let others help us and minister to us.

I like helping people. I like talking with people who need counsel.  I like being able to minister to others. But I am not so good being on the other side of that.  Recently, my Bride and I have been enduring a situation that was draining us and stressing us, yet together we are learning that we are not alone, we are loved, and we will become stronger.  And this from learning to let others minister to us.

Did you know that even Jesus had allow Himself to be helped? After dealing with 40 days of no food, Jesus was exhausted and weak from hunger.  THAT is the very moment when the enemy decided to take action.  And he still does that today; when we are mentally, emotionally, financially exhausted and at the end of our endurance, THAT is when the enemy will attack us through other people.

Jesus relied on God for strength and endurance.  WHEN Jesus had endured and came out of that battle in the right, God sent His own angels to care for Jesus's needs.  

Jesus had to stand strong through the battle, and God gave Him the strength, and then gave Him the comfort when the battle was over.  Jesus, who helped so many people had to learn to let others help even Him.

My bride and I are being taught two lessons from this time in our lives:

     1.  God is in control.

     2.  We must be strong in this battle and do what is right, even if we don't like it.

    3.  When the battle is over, God will minister and restore.