When I Am Afraid

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.