Summer in Florida is hot. Truth be told, every season in Florida can be hot. Air conditioners run year round, with little break. Heat and humidity are oppressive and air conditioning is the remedy.
The battle with heat and humidity are similar to the one with fear. There are seasons in life when fear is an ever-present foe.
Fear can surface over any number of things; the unknown, health, finances, jobs, children, safety, failure, fractured relationship, being enough. The list is endless.
With fear comes anxiety, worry, unrest, heaviness, and irritability. Fear causes a soul to be restless and unwell.
There is a line in a Casting Crowns song that has pierced my heart and mind over the last several weeks. I have found myself singing the phrase in my head and out loud on a daily basis
The line says, “There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know.”
The words bring comfort and peace to my heart and mind. I picture “fear” standing before God, similar to a defendant in front of a judge, and the victor is clear. The battle is clearly won before it’s begun when fear faces the God I know. God is the remedy for fear. Fear is neutralized in His Presence.
Psalm 34 : 4-8
The question then becomes, when does this incredible event take place? When is fear overcome by the reality of the power and character of God?
That depends….it depends on us. It happens when we bring our fear into the presence of God. It happens when we bring the lies it tells in the dark into the light of God’s truth. We have the power to see fear defeated daily, even multiple times per day, if we bring it to the Lord.
On the other hand, we can choose to live in the prison fear creates. Exhausted by the “what ifs.”
Paralyzed by anxiety.
Crushed by despair.
The sad and honest truth is…..sometimes we do. Sometimes the walls of the prison are erected at lightning speed and we believe the lie that we are trapped. Sometimes we give fear the freedom to hijack our mind and rob us of the hope and peace we have in the Lord.
Calling a meeting between fear and the God we know, doesn’t instantly fix all problems, answer every question, or change our circumstances.
But it does change us. It restores our hope, and strength. It reminds us Who is fighting on our behalf and working all things for our good.
Can you imagine how absurd it would be for me to live inside my Florida home with air conditioning and ceiling fans and never turn them on? Hot, sweating, miserable, grumpy, and dehydrated, when I didn’t have to be.
I. WOULD. NEVER.
Fear is real, just like the Florida heat, and the remedy is in the Presence of God.
The next time you walk back in to your home, out of the stifling heat and experience that sweet relief that is AC, remember that the same sweet relief is available when you give your fears over to the God you know.
