Scripture: Isaiah 41:10
Journal: How and where are you living in fear these days? What effect is it having on you? What in this passage gives you the courage or the strength to trust in God? How will you do that in the days and weeks ahead?
Reflection: Okay, I have to come clean. For the past several days I have been living my life in a lot of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the known, yet uncontrollable. Fear that I will not be able to provide for and protect the ones I love. Fear that my resources (physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially, etc.) are going to run out.
And when I live in fear, I
get ultra-reactive. “Oh no! What am I
going to do? What if this happens? What then?
And what about this and this and this?”
It is an all too familiar inner dialogue, one that drives me to a very
dark and desperate place.
Luckily, however, God doesn’t
leave me there for long. For into the
midst of this chaos and panic and confusion comes the voice of reason. A voice that typically finds it source in the
Word, and then quickly finds its way deep into my heart and soul. It is the voice of hope and the voice of
encouragement and the voice of love. It
is the voice of peace and the voice of courage and the voice of truth. It is the only voice that can drive away the
fear. It is the voice of God—the one who
made me uniquely and loves me dearly.
It is the voice of the One
who says: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your
God. I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10) It seems like God always has the right thing
to say. And I, for one, am so grateful.
Prayer
Closing Prayer:
O Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Amen.
I have lived too much lately from a place of fear rather than a place of faith.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Realizing that God wants more for me than that.
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