A Lumberjack In The Forest Of Anxiety

Deliver Me from the sword,
​​My precious life from the power of the dog.
Save Me from the lion’s mouth
​​And from the horns of the wild oxen!
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​​You have answered Me.  Psalm 22:20-21

All around us in the air are little seeds of fear. The Adversary does not want us to have an easy life and he especially hates those who believe in Jesus. David felt the attack of these seeds too, and he took a moment in Psalm 22 to list a few fears of his own. We like it when David is one of us. However, this psalm is also one of prophecy, and I just can't see Jesus on the cross worrying over swords, dogs, lions, or wild oxen.

Wait just a moment though! If our Lord was in all things tempted as we are, then I could see Him there on the cross contending with those unreasonable, uncouth, and unlikely fears that we all suffer daily. We might think that a man dying on the cross would have no worries over the horns of wild oxen, but that isn't the way of those devilish minions who shoot the flaming darts of unreasonable fear. They don't much care about a man's current predicament or how unlikely a fear is to actually happen in a given moment. I should think that Jesus did feel the temptation of an uncouth fear even in His worst moments on the cross. The reason He was without sin is that He did not let the seed grow up into the tree of anxiety.

Those who work at fear and anxiety long enough might even come to dwell in a forest of anxiety. This can become so bad that the person is lost in that forest as so many trees have grown from those little seeds of fear. We might even become a little comfortable there as it has become so familiar to us. What is that sound though? It sounds like a big saw!

When the Shepherd comes for His sheep, He is not shy about donning the gear of a lumberjack and clearing that forest of anxiety. Our Lord is the best there is for clearing a path right to His lost sheep, perhaps even one who is so lost that only the simplest prayer is left, "Save me, Lord Jesus!" Look up in hope, dear friends, there's a Lumberjack in the Forest of Anxiety!

May your faith in Christ grow strong today,
Bucky