For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3
Do you battle with fear sometimes? I definitely do! I love God’s promises in
The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
But there are times when I just wish that God would deal with my fear by His grace. But just like Adam and Eve’s failure in the garden we have all been bungling things up when we believe God is going to work things out by grace, without our participation. What we are calling grace; God may call simple laziness. The issue is not God’s lack of grace; but our lack of action. Yes, of course God is sovereign, almighty and all knowing; but for His own purposes He designed us not to be. I often pray for God to remove my fears; but Jesus said, “Do not let your heart be troubled…” In other words He put me in the driver’s seat and contrary to the song it’s me -not Jesus- who has to take the wheel!
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 NIV
So when I asked myself, “How did Jesus deal with fear?” I remembered the cross. There in humiliation and pain He endured. His confidence was not based on some heroic stoicism, but in the confidence that despite his abandonment and suffering, there was a joy that lay ahead. At the sixth hour, as His strength reached its end and His vision grew dark but He chose to believe in something He could not see – our salvation and forgiveness. So in those moments when I am afraid, I will remember that He was afraid too. But three days later, on a morning He could not see from the cross, the stone rolled away and He rose and sorrow and mourning flew away!
