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“The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” Psalms 27:1
Fear is one of the most paralyzing tools of the enemy. He uses it to keep our eyes off of God and on our problems. Fear is almost always focused on the future and the unknown. Even if your fear is based on something from your past, the fear concerns the consequences of your actions.
From a human perspective, the level of fear we have is based on our ability to handle what’s coming. If we know we have the knowledge and resources to handle what’s ahead, our fear is minimal. But when the unknown faces us, and we aren’t sure we have the resources to tackle the challenge fear takes over.
Fear can keep us awake at night. Fear can take away our appetite. Fear can destroy relationships. Fear can kill you! The saying “scared to death” can actually be a reality!
Fear is often synonymous with darkness and danger. The Psalmist writes that “God is our light…” The smallest light amount of light can penetrate the deepest darkness. You don’t need a large amount of light to see your way through the darkness. You don’t need a large amount of faith in Jesus to see your way into the unknown.
If you can allow God‘s light to shine on your fears, he will, through the power of his Holy Spirit that lives within you, give you his peace that passes understanding. He’s given us his Spirit of power, not fear so you can face the future knowing you have the resources you need to overcome.
He is your light. He is your fortress. He alone is your salvation.
Eeyore, the always negative donkey in the children’s story, “Winnie the Pooh” has an incredible knack for seeing the negative in everything. I remember chuckling at some of his statements while reading to my children. In his world there was nothing good. There was no hope. Expectations always fell short.
We can chuckle at this fictional character’s outlook on life, but reality is, it’s easy for us to do the same. It’s easy to live trapped by our past. I’m grateful for a relatively boring childhood, but many are still grappling with abusive homes, dysfunctional families and sometimes, as a result, mental illness or addictions. It’s been said ‘our past can kill us or make us stronger’, and while there is some truth to that, its easier said than lived.
It’s also easy for us as believers to lose hope when we look around us at the direction society seems destined for. Often our belief in Jesus Christ is construed by society as intolerant, out of touch and irrelevant.
Peter wrote his book to Christ followers in a society that, believe it or not, was more brutal to the things of God that the one we live in. Yet he wrote of great expectations. Not because of his past, but because of his future. Not because of who he was, but because of who Jesus is.
Don’t base your hopes, aspirations and expectations on who you are or what you can do. Don’t allow the actions and accusations of others deter you from expecting great and mighty things in your life. Success by God’s standards comes from a live lived rich in integrity and holiness. Success by societies standards is like flags in the wind, being tossed by every new idea. Jesus gives you stability in an unstable world and hope among the hopeless.
If you’ve ever walked through a swampy area you’ve seen them. Some are trampled down. Some are bent over. Virtually all of them are at some level of being wounded. Reeds of every size and shape standing vulnerable to the elements.
Life can be like that swamp. We go through life and get stomped on, damaged, and wounded. For some it’s broken relationships. The person we once thought a soul mate is suddenly gone, and with their departure, there’s a gaping hole in your soul.
For some it may be shattered dreams. You’ve worked hard towards a goal, only to have the rug pulled out from under you and you are left holding a thousand different pieces of a puzzle you know you will never get back together again.
When life heads south; when we go through some life changing event, we become extremely fragile. The slightest breeze can break us. The brush of a passing situation can be our undoing.
Jesus showed throughout his time on earth that he had the soft compassion that would heal the most fragile of lives; that would move so gently that even the most bruised reed would not be broken.
You can come to Jesus with your fragile heart. You can come to Jesus with your bruised heart. You can know that his gentleness will help you through the pain. He’s the great healer.
Built with Grace 
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