Trust

Confessing Your Fears

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I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.  Psalm 34:4

A pastor of mine once had a job working on steel towers hundreds of feet tall. He talked with me one day about the process of training that men went through to be able to join the crew. One phrase that he often said was, “Any man who says he isn’t afraid is a liar!” I believe that King David would have agreed with my pastor. He didn’t try convincing God that he was courageous. David’s response to the fear that he felt was to cry out to the Lord. He knew that God already knew that he was terrified. He wasn’t trying to fool God or anyone else. David knew of only one place to go and that was to his knees! Like a child shouting for his father’s help David unhesitatingly cried to God. Just as you will never convince a child not to cry out when hurt, so we need to know that God is not putting us to the test to see how much pain we can withstand.

low angle view of electric post

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The entire mission of Jesus Christ while on earth was summed up in a single word, “Immanuel” He is God with us. He willing came to Bethlehem to be with us. He willingly was rejected by his own people, even at times by his own family so we would never have to be alone. Jesus knows the fact that we have lived all of our lives in fear of death. Jesus came to bring us life, not to tell us to keep a stiff upper lip. Admitting ours fears to God is nothing to be ashamed of; in fact it is our first step towards courage!

 

Counting the Joy

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Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
James 1:2 ESV

We had gotten used to Disney being closed and resigned to the fact that even beaches were shut down. That was soon followed by restaurants, my barber shop and finally even our church. But the reality of this verse didn’t kick in for me till yesterday when I discovered that there were no cases of any kind of water at Publix and the clerk didn’t know when it would come in.

Like the surprise of a sunrise streaking across the horizon I suddenly realized that nothing was in my control. It has become popular to say that we are all in this together. But our togetherness is kind of like being in the same waiting room each awaiting our individual surgery. One by one God is operating on our hearts through new and different trials. The good news is that He is not only a Good Shepherd -He is also a great surgeon! We can count the procedure we are facing as joy because we know that in the recovery room He will tell us that the operation was a success!

 

He Gave Him No Answer

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But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed Matthew 27:14 ESV

I have a small confession to make. Some days I love to complain. I complain about the weather. I complain about my church, my kids and even my wife. Some nights as I lay my head on the pillow and replay the whiny remarks which I made I wonder how I could have been so unkind and wish I had kept my lips sealed.

Jesus on the other hand had no shortage of things to complain about. But on the worst die of his short life, Jesus encouraged a thief; made sure His mother was taken care of and forgave His enemies. How could He do that? What was His secret?

Some years ago I was bringing a truckload of branches to our local landfill. At the entrance was a one story cement block booth with an attendant who checked each vehicles weight. As I pulled up to get our weigh in slip, I saw there by the side of the operator’s window a small sign with an arrow pointed up stating, “Complaint department upstairs!”

How can we be patient like Jesus, when others mistreat or abuse us physically or verbally? The answer is in knowing where the complaint department is located. Telling our neighbors, our family or our enemies the way we feel won’t help. Our only response is to quietly trust that our cry is heard by the only one who can deliver us. Then in the same way that Jesus did we can give ourselves into the hands of the one who loved us and gave His life for ours.