Isaiah 43:1-2 (NIV)
“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great
trouble, I will be with you. When you go
through rivers of great difficulty, you will not drown!”
Some people are mistaken to think that Christians will never
have troubles in their life if they have enough faith. Some of this is because of ministers who have
preached and taught this kind of message.
The truth is, God promised he would help us through troubles, not
completely avoid them. There are some
things in life that will come our way simply because of this fallen world where
troubles reside. We are born into bodies
that are not created to live forever.
There is evil lurking around every corner, but, God says, “Do not be
afraid!” In fact, the words ‘fear not’
or ‘do not be afraid’ appear in the Bible 365 times – one for each day of the
year, including leap year so that we will daily be reminded to put our trust in
God!
When I was a child, I was afraid of the unseen things in the
dark. Now that I am an adult, my fears
are about bigger things in life – how to pay the bills, the safety of my kids
and grandkids, growing old and becoming unable to care for myself, etc. Many things that I was once afraid about have
now come and gone – being financially stable, being a good parent and raising
my children, losing my parents to death, my children growing up and leaving
home, etc. Then there are those things
that present fear to us in the moment – my husband is late could he have had an
accident, what will the economy do to our financial situation, my job has been
terminated, my child is sick, I may have cancer, etc. Fear IS the unseen thing lurking in the dark,
waiting to jump out at any time. Fear IS the dark shadow in the corner. Fear IS the thing hiding under the bed, but God
says, “Do not be afraid”!
When I was a child and I became afraid, I always cried out
for my mother. I’m sure that you did,
too, or maybe it was your dad who you would call for, either way, we knew that
parent would come to us and make everything better. Why?
Because we were their child! Their
love for us would have caused them to sacrifice whatever necessary for our well
being, and that’s why we trusted them.
They were bigger and wiser and we knew they would know what to do. God says in this verse that the reason why we
should not be afraid is because he has ransomed (redeemed, bought back, paid a
big price for) us. In other words, we’re
his child AND he knows us by our name.
We’re not merely a product number from an assembly line, no, each one of
us are to God just as important as either one of my three daughters are to
me. He is Father God!
We can be assured that when we are afraid, we
can call out for him, he will come to us and make everything better. He will walk us through the dark times,
through the sad times, through the hard times, through lack, through pain,
through it all. He is bigger and wiser and his love for us has
already caused him to sacrifice whatever was necessary for our good, that’s why
we can trust him.
