Fear Not!

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Today’s Devotional Thought:

“...The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 4:5b-7

Are you afraid? I admit I am afraid at times. For me it is not a fear for me but a fear for my children. I fear for them because of the world in which they must grow up. I read the news and I fear.

I am not alone in my fears. In 1975, Roger Hart conducted a study on where children felt safe to play. He focused on 86 children between the ages of three to twelve in a small town in Vermont. Hart would follow the kids throughout the day, documenting everywhere the children went by themselves. He then took that information and made physical maps that measured the distance each child was allowed to go by themselves and what the average was for every age group.

Hart discovered that these kids had remarkable freedom. Even four- or five-year-olds, traveled unsupervised throughout their neighborhoods, and by the time they were 10, most of the kids had the run of the entire town. And the kids' parents weren't worried either.

Then several years ago (about 2014), he went back to the same town to document the children of the children that he had originally tracked in the '70s, and when he asked the new generation of kids to show him where they played alone, what he found floored him. Hart said, "They just didn't have very far to take me, just walking around their property." In other words, the huge circle of freedom on the maps had grown tiny.

Hart added, "There is no free range outdoors. Even when the kids are older, parents now say, 'I need to know where you are at all times.'" But what's odd about all of this, is that the town is not more dangerous than it was before. There's literally no more crime today than there was 40 years ago.

So why has the invisible leash between parent and child tightened so much? Hart says it was absolutely clear from his interviews. The reason was fear. Here's the conclusion to his new study: fear of the world outside our door narrows the circle of our lives. [Adapted from NPR, “World with No Fear,” Invisibilia podcast (1-15-15)]

We have become a fearful people and through our fear the circles of our lives have begun to shrink. There may be many reasons for this but the answer for our fear is trust in God. “The Lord is near...” He is no further away today than He ever has been. When we trust Him (even with our children) He still takes away our anxieties to give His peace. It is a peace that guards against fear.

Are you fearful? Why? Trust in God. Bring Him your fears and He will give a peace that transcends understanding. He is still God. He is still in control.

Prayer: Holy Father, You do not change. You are the same today, tomorrow and forever. There is nothing beyond Your power, Your control. Forgive us for our fear, our lack of trust in You. We give You or fears. We lay them at Your cross and proclaim our trust that you are able to protect Your children. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Be strong and courageous...

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Today's thought:

Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

The 2011 film We Bought a Zoo was based on the true story of a British man named Benjamin Mee. In 2006 Mee and his family purchased and moved into a 30-acre zoo. In his book with the same title, Mee says that his new "neighbors" included "five Siberian tigers, three African lions, nine wolves, three big brown European bears, four Asian short-clawed otters, two flamingos, a Brazilian tapir called Ronnie, some large boa constrictors, and a tarantula."

The zoo was dangerously rundown. Mee was faced with a series of challenges, including dealing with a rat infestation, and finding enough money to feed the animals. On the fourth day of their new lives, the jaguar escaped, endangering the neighborhood. Despite the difficulties, Mee and his family restored the zoo into a place of beauty and safety that provided healing for themselves and for their surrounding community.

But it wasn't easy. Mee admitted, "There were lots of times when I thought, What have I done?" So why did he buy and remodel the zoo? In the film version, Mee (played by Matt Damon), says, "Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it." [Mark Batterson, All In (Zondervan, 2013), page 79.]

That's not just a great line from well-written screenplay. It can change the plotline of your life. That's about how long it took for Peter to get out of the boat. That's about how long it took for David to charge Goliath. That's about how long it took for Zaccheus to climb the sycamore tree. That's about how long it took Joshua, after God told him that it was time to cross over and take the promised land, to turn to the Isrealites and proclaim, "It's go time." 

And it took courage. Twenty seconds of insane courage to set their minds to it. There was plenty to be fearful of. They were marching into the unknown. When they crossed the Jordan there would be no going back. And what did they know of war and tactics? It was their father's generation who reported that the people of the land were giants. That mythology would have been handed down.

If you've ever been overmatched, outgunned, in over your head, then you understand the fear inherent in Joshua's situation. But God's voice was ringing in his head as he turned to the Isrealites to give the command, his words echoing in his mind, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid." But I wonder if Joseph's twenty seconds of insane courage was based on the promise that followed, "for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

And God lead them into the promise land. To make a mockery of fear, when they came upon the fortified city of Jericho God sent, not the army, but the marching band against the city. They marched around the walled fortress and then blew their horns.

I can't help but wonder if God smiled a little when he flicked the walls down. I know the Isrealites must have smiled as they rushed into the city. No longer would they fear. They had learned the lesson, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31b).

All you need is twenty seconds of insane courage.

Be strong and courageous.

Prayer: Our Father God, you have not given us a spirit of timidity but of courage. Though we do not know what lies ahead, though we may be outmatched and outgunned, though it may seem an impossible thing you ask, grant us the twenty seconds of insane courage to set our minds to it. We will go if only you will go with us. In Jesus name, amen.

Nothing to fear but fear itself...

Today's thought:

2 Timothy 1:7-8, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God."

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a gospel of comfort or safety. God wants to teach us trust. To learn how to trust God you must find yourself, at times, in some precarious or possibly disastrous positions. You must find yourself looking at fear in the eye. A spirit of power, love and self-discipline have no purpose if all we have known are comfortable moments of ease. God will put you in situations that will make you uncomfortable or uneasy so that in trusting Him and doing the right thing you can conquer fear. President Roosevelt, encouraging a nation at war, quipped, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I would have to add, "if God is for you." For if God is for you who could stand against you (Romans 8:31) and therefore not being able to conquer our fear is the only thing we should fear.

Michael Ramsden, a Director at the Oxford Center for Apologetics, shared the following true story about a minister from Iran. As the minister was driving with his wife, they stopped in a small Iranian village to purchase some water. Before entering, the minister noticed a man holding a machine gun and leaning against the wall outside the store. The minister's wife looked at the man's face and the gun, then put a Bible in her husband's hand and said, "Give that man this Bible." Her husband looked at the man—his menacing beard and his machine gun—and replied, "I don't think so." But she persisted: "I'm serious. Give it to him. Please, give him the Bible."

Trying to avoid the issue, the husband said, "Okay, I'll pray about it." He went into the shop, purchased the water, climbed back into the car, and started to drive away. His wife looked at him and said, "I guess you didn't give him the Bible, did you?" Looking straight ahead, he replied, "No, I prayed about it and it wasn't the right thing to do." She quietly said, "You should have given him the Bible," and then she bowed her head and started praying. At that point, he turned around and told his wife, "Fine! If you want me to die, I will."

When the minister returned to the store, the man with the machine gun was still standing against the wall. The minister approached him and placed the Bible in his hand. When the man opened it and saw it was a Bible, he started to cry. "I don't live here," he said. "I had to walk for three days in order to get to this village. But three days ago an angel appeared to me and told me to walk to this village and wait until someone had given me the Book of Life. Thank you for giving me this book."

The minister became a courageous witness for Christ. Eventually, along with many other co-workers in the Iranian church, he was martyred for his faith. [Michael Ramsden, "An Uncompromising Faith Lived Out with Grace," Just Thinking (1-26-09)]

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity.

Prayer: Our Father who is in heaven, we sometimes quake at the thought of sharing our faith by listening to your prompt. We ask forgiveness for the lack of trust we have. Today we pray for an opportunity to share our faith and believe that wherever we go You have been there first. We have nothing to fear except being conquered by fear. May You afford us the opportunity to prove our trust in You. In Jesus name, amen.