Monday, March 19, 2012

Scared

“I am scared you will forget to pick me up from the bus”, cried little six year old Karrie to her mother recently. It is a pattern for sure. She has grown more and more anxious these past few weeks. No matter what any family member tells her, she still is afraid that she will be left at the bus stop.

Now this has never happened. Every day her older sister and brother climb on the bus to come home with her and every day she is afraid they will not. Every day her mother picks up the three children at the bus stop and every day Karrie is afraid she won’t. To us it is irrational. To little Karrie it is real and it leaves her drained and fearful.

She comes by it naturally. She is human. A grown woman is not afraid that she won’t be picked up from the school bus. A grown man is not afraid that his older brother will forget to meet him after class. None the less, they/we are afraid.

A recent survey was conducted on a handful of people which revealed that they all feared something. Here is a smattering of the results.

I am afraid my husband will leave me.
Yet God says, “Do not fear… For your Maker is your Husband, The Lord of Hosts is His name.”

I am afraid I will get cancer.
“When you pass through the waters I will be with you.” We are told by God through Scripture.

I am afraid to leave the house.
We are reassured with “Do not fear for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you for I am your God. I will strengthen you; surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. “

I am afraid of something but I don’t know what. It is an uneasy feeling that just stays with me.
“Fear not for I am with you. Be not afraid for I am your God. I will help you”

I am afraid I will loose my job.
“You, O God, provided from your goodness for the poor.”

I am afraid my husband will get transferred and we will have to move.
But in Roman’s we are told that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come ….nor any other created thing shall EVER separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I am afraid of war.
Yet God tells a people afraid of Assyrian attack, “You are not to fear what they fear or to be in dread of it. It is the Lord of Hosts whom you should regard as holy And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread, And He shall be your sanctuary.”

I look at little Karrie with her fears that seem so foolish, and then I read the Word and realize that my fears and the fears of others appear just as foolish from a heavenly perspective. As we try to reassure Karrie, our Father has written a whole book simply to reassure His children that we can and should live fearless lives. He has told us the truth.

As Karrie says “I am afraid you will forget to pick me up at the bus, I sometimes am afraid that God will forget to hold fast to His promises. Yet my God will never forget. I can rest in Him. Everything is under control….His control.