The Lord is my light and the One Who saves me. I fear no one. The Lord protects my life. I am afraid of no one. Evil people may try to destroy my body. My enemies and those who hate me, attack me, but they are overwhelmed and defeated. If an army surrounds me, I will not be afraid. If war breaks out I will trust the Lord. (vs. 1-3)
Wow! Look at the times fear is mentioned in these verses. Fear. Bigger than the army that encamps around us or the enemy who wants to kill us. Fiercer than the attacks of those who hate us. Fear makes us crouch. Fear makes us run. Fear makes us doubt. Fear stymies our progress into victory. Fear makes us lie down and play dead.
When Jesus is with the disciples in the storm as it rages around them, He is sleeping in the back of the boat as if nothing is happening. Meanwhile the disciples are losing their minds! Jettisoning their catch, perhaps, and tugging at the sails...they are in a maelstrom with a napping Savior. Remember what He said after they awakened them? "Why are you afraid?" Why? Really? Why? Seems like it should've been bleeding obvious. They were an inch from capsizing! So the problem was, they did not really know Who was in the boat.
Jesus meets a man at the pool near the Sheep Gate. The pool was said to have healing waters. This poor man had been ailing for 38 years. The question Jesus asked: "Do you want to be well?" Silly question? Maybe not. He has been comfortable in his complaining about not being like others for many years. What if he is healed and his life is not any different? Better to give excuses why he has not had the courage before to get into that water. Jesus does heal him. But, the man had to get up.
Again with the boat. The disciples alone. Struggling with the blowing wind and the darkness. Jesus sees them between the hours of six and three a.m., so He starts walking across the water in a wind storm. Forget the idea that this is glassy calm. The disciples are not making any progress rowing in the waves. When they see a figure coming toward them, they are freaked out! "It's a ghost!!" Bad enough they had to row in the waves, but now a ghost is gonna get them!
"Get a grip!" cries Jesus. "Be men of courage! Don't be afraid."
Peter wants to try it. Swallows fear and walks out to the Lord, leaving the sissies in the boat. Sure he sank for a minute and swallowed water, too. but he took His Savior at his word and is probably the only other person you know of who has ever walked on the waves.
A couple has lost their daughter. She is dead. In her bed. Hope gone. Her daddy goes to Jesus. Skeptics tell the father not to bother Jesus because his baby has already taken her last breath. The first words Jesus says to the mourning father are: "Don't be afraid. Just believe. And your daughter will be made well."
Perfect love has no fear in it. Let me say that again. Perfect love has no fear in it. Pray for that. Seek that. I am. Daily. Because I am prone to fear. All the "what if's" possible to conjure, my mind will play with until I have not the courage to move at all. Stultifying fear is the enemy of faith! Trust that His love for you will not take you anywhere that He cannot protect you. War. Famine. Attack. Abandonment.
If we fear, we run. And God knows where some of us have found ourselves then. Love trusts. Beyond what it looks like to us. And it has looked really bad before. Believe me. And I have feared before. Ugh. The results not so pretty. Hear Your Savior say today: "Do not be afraid. Only believe. I am in the boat."
Wow! Look at the times fear is mentioned in these verses. Fear. Bigger than the army that encamps around us or the enemy who wants to kill us. Fiercer than the attacks of those who hate us. Fear makes us crouch. Fear makes us run. Fear makes us doubt. Fear stymies our progress into victory. Fear makes us lie down and play dead.
When Jesus is with the disciples in the storm as it rages around them, He is sleeping in the back of the boat as if nothing is happening. Meanwhile the disciples are losing their minds! Jettisoning their catch, perhaps, and tugging at the sails...they are in a maelstrom with a napping Savior. Remember what He said after they awakened them? "Why are you afraid?" Why? Really? Why? Seems like it should've been bleeding obvious. They were an inch from capsizing! So the problem was, they did not really know Who was in the boat.
Jesus meets a man at the pool near the Sheep Gate. The pool was said to have healing waters. This poor man had been ailing for 38 years. The question Jesus asked: "Do you want to be well?" Silly question? Maybe not. He has been comfortable in his complaining about not being like others for many years. What if he is healed and his life is not any different? Better to give excuses why he has not had the courage before to get into that water. Jesus does heal him. But, the man had to get up.
Again with the boat. The disciples alone. Struggling with the blowing wind and the darkness. Jesus sees them between the hours of six and three a.m., so He starts walking across the water in a wind storm. Forget the idea that this is glassy calm. The disciples are not making any progress rowing in the waves. When they see a figure coming toward them, they are freaked out! "It's a ghost!!" Bad enough they had to row in the waves, but now a ghost is gonna get them!
"Get a grip!" cries Jesus. "Be men of courage! Don't be afraid."
Peter wants to try it. Swallows fear and walks out to the Lord, leaving the sissies in the boat. Sure he sank for a minute and swallowed water, too. but he took His Savior at his word and is probably the only other person you know of who has ever walked on the waves.
A couple has lost their daughter. She is dead. In her bed. Hope gone. Her daddy goes to Jesus. Skeptics tell the father not to bother Jesus because his baby has already taken her last breath. The first words Jesus says to the mourning father are: "Don't be afraid. Just believe. And your daughter will be made well."
Perfect love has no fear in it. Let me say that again. Perfect love has no fear in it. Pray for that. Seek that. I am. Daily. Because I am prone to fear. All the "what if's" possible to conjure, my mind will play with until I have not the courage to move at all. Stultifying fear is the enemy of faith! Trust that His love for you will not take you anywhere that He cannot protect you. War. Famine. Attack. Abandonment.
If we fear, we run. And God knows where some of us have found ourselves then. Love trusts. Beyond what it looks like to us. And it has looked really bad before. Believe me. And I have feared before. Ugh. The results not so pretty. Hear Your Savior say today: "Do not be afraid. Only believe. I am in the boat."
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