It’s that time year when kids are back in school, meeting new teachers, swapping summer stories and sharing germs. School nurses, armed with telephones and Lysol, have a steady stream of customers. Mamas on the other end of the phone aren’t afraid of fevers, coughs, and headaches. But there is one diagnosis that sends shockwaves of fear through every mama, the stomach bug. While a fever or cold has a good chance of remaining an isolated event with only a single victim, the stomach bug threatens to spread and take out children and adults alike. It doesn’t discriminate and can hover over families for weeks. Just when you think your home is clear, another victim goes down.
As I hear stories of the dreaded bug making its season premiere, I am reminded of previous episodes in my home.
A couple years ago my youngest was the victim. She had been sick all day and finally got a reprieve that coincided with bedtime. When she awoke in the morning, things were looking up. She drank a bit of Gatorade, but was still complaining her stomach hurting. I began to comfort her and tell her this time it was hurting because she was hungry. I offered up saltines and applesauce and she began to cry. She was fearful of relapse. I tried to explain she was going to be okay and really needed to eat a little bit. Food was offered again.
Visibly conflicted, she blurted out, “I don’t know what to do, because I don’t know if you are right or if you are wrong!”
She was afraid to trust me. She wanted me to be right and receive relief from her ailing tummy. But, if I was wrong, she faced relapse and a return to the restroom.
Isn’t that the way we respond to God in our difficulties?
Do we take a step towards Him in faith, believing He will meet us? Or choose to drown in the quicksand of fear?
The choice seems cinchy, were it not for the enemy who revels in our stuckness.
His voice whispers, “What if?”
It’s familiar and we listen.
He weaves a story of gloom to convince us that surrendering the process and outcome to God, in faith, will be our undoing. Leaving us paralyzed and imprisoned by a web of lies.
As a mama, I wanted relief for my little one as much as she did. I tried to convince her with my credentials and experience as a mother but I could not guarantee she would not be sick again if she ate what was offered. I used words like “probably” and “usually” and “I think so”.
The capacity and credentials of God to care for His children far exceed what I was able to offer my daughter.
In God, there is certainty. Faithfully believing in all that He is, is always right.
Some of His credentials are laid out for us in Psalm 103:2-8:
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
Our God can be trusted. Where He leads, He provides. Trust can feel like traveling a treacherous path, blind-folded, and often it is.
James 1:2 Instructs us to “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.” Problems and trials are guaranteed. Faith and joy seem a nonsensical response. But, verses 3 and 4 reveal the results of being mature, complete and lacking nothing.
Like a jealous adolescent, the enemy wants to limit our gain of these gifts.
When confronted with the fearful lies the enemy whispers, grab hold of the hand of God and joyfully step in to the unknown, knowing you are held (Isaiah 41:10), He is for you (Romans 8:31) and He is able to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)
Faith>Fear
