Good Wednesday morning! Welcome to December too! Christmas is coming and all the great and wonderful things that go with it! I see many lights shining each night on houses; the first Christmas card and letter arrived yesterday, written by a cat no less; and Rudolf was on the telly last night. Tis the season to be reminded of a promise kept - the promise that God would send a savior of the line of David to us. When I look to my own strength and ability, I see every reason to be afraid for today and the future. When I look to God's strength and ability, I see no reason to be afraid of anything! "In God we Trust" is a good reminder to have on our money. We trust in God alone, not in our moneybags. Money comes and goes; God has always been and always will be just as He is. Our strength wanes with age and sickness; God has never been weakened in the least by time or the curse of this fallen world. Looking at the world frightens me too!
The world looks like a wild charge by all manner of wild things. Some are too fast for me to outrun; others too agile for me to dodge, and still others too large for me to stand against their force. But that isn't what frightens us the most these days. The things of the world we cannot see are what lay us low more often than anything else: viruses, bacteria, cancers, vapors, gases, and even the trauma that may await us just past the next turn of the calendar all generate a fearful atmosphere. So much to fear when we look only at our own strength! We have good news in this.
God was around and close by when the first son of Adam looked into the night, blinded by the firelight that warmed him, and shuddered at the danger he feared in the great, unknowable darkness around him. God was there when the first pioneer turned his wagon and family toward the far horizon with no idea what sort of landscape awaited him. God is there with you and me when that dream awakens us in the night with fear and trembling. God was with Paul in the prison cell, Noah in the Ark, and David in the cave. God was there when the entire world went to war and millions died. What was God doing during those times? The same things He did when His Son died on the cross: sorrowing with the sorrowful, grieving with the grief-stricken, hurting with the hurt, and comforting those in need of his special touch. We fear when we look away from God and try to go it alone. We trust in God and the fear melts away. Have you felt the complete freedom from fear that complete trust in God brings? I don't seem to be quite there yet. I seem to cling to a fear or two in every situation. The Holy Spirit reminds me of God and comforts me in this. And, yes, I do hear the occasional admonition to knock off that anxious vision or this other ridiculous imagining that shores up the fear and weakens my trust in God. At times unsaid but certainly meant with every "Fear not!" in the Bible is: "Trust in Me!"
Have a trusting day in God and a Happy Christmas!
Bucky
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