What are you afraid of? Everyone has something. Indiana Jones and my husband are afraid of snakes. 🙂 My daughter is afraid of heights. My dog is afraid of bees. I am afraid of never seeing the sun again (I live in Ohio after all).
Fear is a natural reaction to something that can cause us harm. And it’s not always bad…but it can be.
If there was not a healthy kind of fear, we would probably do some really stupid things. It’s good to have a fear of sharks, or you might not swim away if you saw one. It’s good to have a nice healthy fear of tornadoes, or you might not take cover if one was coming your way.
About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” (Matthew 14:25-26)
Jesus came walking towards His disciples. Something he’d probably done a hundred times. But this time, they were terrified. They weren’t just scared or a little afraid. They were TERRIFIED.
They didn’t recognize Him. They thought He was a ghost. They felt threatened. I mean, really. You just don’t see a person walking on the water every day. I might have been terrified too. What about you?
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” (Matthew 14:27)
I love that. Jesus spoke to them at once. And He said, “Take courage. I am here!”
Don’t be afraid. Take courage. It’s a choice. Fear can be ever present, but we can choose a different emotion. We have to take it (action word). We can choose to take courage.
Fear is normal and natural and even healthy in some situations, but God never intended that we live there. I’ve been in fear and I’ve been in peace, and peace is MUCH better!
Part of fear is forgetting His presence. Forgetting He is here. I am much less likely to be afraid at night in a dark parking lot if I have an armed police officer walking right next to me than if I’m walking all by myself.
I am here! That’s what He speaks to us in the midst of our fear.
How do we take courage? What do we do when we are consumed with fear and panic?
I am losing all hope;
I am paralyzed with fear.
I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works
and think about what you have done.
I lift my hands to you in prayer.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. (Psalm 143:4-6)
I remember the days of old. I ponder all Your great works. I think of what You’ve done. I look right at You and focus on You, and I pray.
When Jesus spoke to His disciples, it brought so much peace and courage that Peter even jumped out of the boat to walk on the water with Him. He looked right at Jesus and walked out on that water with the storm still raging all around.
It was only when Peter stopped looking at Jesus and looked at the storm around him that the fear came back. But he cried out to Jesus (he prayed), and Jesus reached out and rescued him.
We can’t look at Jesus in the flesh like Peter could. But we can look into His Word and focus on what He has done and what He’s promised to do and hope. And trust. And take courage that He is working and He will rescue us from whatever is threatening our peace.
What He is saying to us is, “Take courage. I am here.” Healer is here. Provider is here. Protector is here. He…in everything He is and in all of His glorious power and might and strength…never leaves you. Never leaves me. He is here!
Take courage. He is with you! He will walk you through to victory!