For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
Have you been as baffled as I at the outpouring of fear and anxiety that’s coming from so many mouths today? And many of these concerns are from the Millennials, those whom one would think would be most hopeful of all. The concerns that are being voiced are based on speculations, not facts. Where, I wonder, are we placing our trust?
When my brother and I were growing up, Momo had a little ceramic plaque on the wall of the kitchen. It read,
“Said the robin to the sparrow, ‘I should really like to know
why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so.’
Said the sparrow to the robin, ‘Friend, I think that it must be
that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.'”
The same God who saw our forefathers suffer and survive a revolution while building a nation founded on godly principles is the same One who sustained a divided nation during the Civil War to later reunite them. He’s the same One who took us through the Great War and kept us when we might have perished during World War II. On and on we could go through our modern history to see God’s mercy and blessing even when we so little deserve it.
God is still in charge. If we really want to make a difference in our land, we can pray and then act. Oswald Chambers says that prayer does not change things. Prayer changes us, and we change things. We embrace the Sermon on the Mount,* and we begin to live it out. As we dispel fear through obedience, love and power and a sound mind fill the vacuum. Who are we that we should be identified by our fears and our uncertainties?
God is still God and still waits for us to cast all our cares on him because he cares for us (I Peter 5:7). He is the solitary power in the universe who longs to be gracious to [us]; therefore he will rise up to show [us] compassion (Isaiah 30:18). “The eternal God is [our] refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” (Deuteronomy 33:2)
Let’s stop whining about our circumstances, whatever they are, and look to Jesus who takes away our fears, is our refuge, and who loves and cares for us.
Father, sometimes we get caught up in our secular culture and forget that you are still God. We give you all our anxieties and fears and ask, instead, for your love, your power, and your sound mind. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.
*If you haven’t read the Sermon on the Mount lately, take a little time to really chew on it: Matthew 5-7.
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