No Fear

 

Be strong and courageous; do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9b

There are many Scripture that reference God’s love and care for us. We are encouraged as we read the Word, that we are not alone, we do not have to worry or have fear, that God is for us which means no one can come against us, and on and on. Now let me ask you this? Are you ever afraid? I know I am and sometimes it’s over stupid, ridiculous, they don’t much matter things.

Today I saw something that made me think, made me proud and gave me a moment of awe. This morning in church I looked up and saw a very familiar face in the worship team. It was the face of the mother of one of my former students, a boy I dearly love. She is an amazingly sweet and thoughtful woman, the mother of two boys, one a second grader full of energy and a lot of his own sweetness and her older son, my former student who fits under the label of “special needs.” He has special needs, sure, but he also has Mom’s sweetness unless you make him mad. He’s a great guy with a lot of personality. He also has a body that is not always his friend.

This morning I watched as his mother very sincerely sang the words, “I never, ever have to be afraid.” That made me think. It made me think about the fact that in the last year her older son has been in the hospital more than he’s been out. We haven’t seen him much at school and we have missed him. We have prayed for him and had great concern for him. Didn’t his mother have reason to be afraid then? Wasn’t she in fact concerned?

I know this mom. She loves her boys in a huge and obvious way. That is where the pride and awe come in. I was in awe of the fact that she clearly loves the Lord even more than she loves those boys and because of that love while her human heart might be beating a bit faster than it should and she may wake up at night stricken by terror of what might be happening to her child, she can find peace because the God who loves her never stops loving her or her son. She knows that while she may feel fear (and I don’t know if she has, we haven’t talked about it) she doesn’t actually have to be afraid. That is where the pride part comes in.

I was proud to know her, proud to be a part of her life and her son’s life and prouder still to be her sister in Christ. She is another example to me of how well God provides for His people. He has provided strength, energy and hope to that family and in doing so provided many more people with an example of faith and hope in light of what just does not look or feel good. What might, in fact, be quite terrible.

The people of the worship team do not live charmed lives. I know the lady I’ve described so I know a bit of what she’s been through but what about the woman next to her? Or the man behind her? I don’t know them. I see them praising God, singing “I never have to be afraid” and I wonder if at that very moment the enemy is trying to frighten any one of them.

My friend could choose fear as her constant companion. She has plenty of reason. She’s raising two boys in today’s crazy world and if that isn’t enough, one of them needs quite a bit more care than the average kid. She could choose fear and self-pity and very few people would blame her, but she doesn’t. She chooses Christ and He chooses her right back.

Followers of Christ do not live charmed lives with no problems, illnesses or stress. We have difficulties, illnesses, disappointments and setbacks. We also have a God who cannot be defeated.  That allows us to cope. The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) We never have to be afraid because we know who wins, no matter how things look or how they feel we have no reason to fear. Our God reigns and we show the world that He does when we behave in a way that illustrates our trust in Him. When we sing His praise when anyone who knows us, also knows our challenges we declare our faith. Our God reigns. He loves us and we never have to be afraid.